Hidden Scars
by Holly The Sparkling Unicorn
Summary: Scorpius and Naomi Malfoy, two young children that have tragedy following their every step; until they meet the Potters. Will they be able to mend their scarred hearts, or is it far too late for them?
1. The Start Of Something New

**Hidden Scars**

**Prologue:** The Start Of Something New

* * *

><p>The morning of the first of September was filled with nervousness and excitement from many children. A family of four were jogging in the station trying to get to their destination. Two large cages rattled on top of the trolleys the eldest children were pushing; the owls inside them hooted indignantly, and the blonde-headed girl held on tightly to her brother's shoulders as they walked through the brick wall leading to The Hogwarts Express.<p>

"It's okay, Naos," the father said behind his three children. It was his son's first year of school at Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry and his youngest, who was clamped onto her brother like a leech, was terrified of her brother leaving. The father, Draco Malfoy, was the last one to enter the platform, gaining a less-than-pleased look from his eldest daughter.

"Can you be any slower, dad?" the eldest girl scowled. She looked much like her paternal grandmother, Narcissa Malfoy, only with black hair that made her resemble her great Aunt Bellatrix Lestrange, who just happened to be her namesake.

"Bella, just leave it alone, you'll soon be out of his reach," the boy said to his older sister, sighing at how impatient she was. _No idea how she was put in Slytherin,_ he thought, _other than the fact that she's a right git_. The boy looked exactly as his father did when he was his age, short silky pale blonde hair, clear pale skin; the only thing that was different was where his father had gray eyes, his had a tint of blue.

"Scor, I don't want you to go!" the young girl said, tightening her grip on his back and shoulders. The older girl, Bella, rolled her eyes.

The boy, known as Scor, just held the younger girl, "You'll be okay, Naomi."

Draco just watched his children as the family walked to the middle of the platform; Scor putting his little sister down on the ground so he could make sure he had everything. "Bella, take care of your brother!" he exclaimed, forcing his eldest daughter into a hug. She was going into her third year of Hogwarts, and thought that hugging her father was only for children.

Bella glared. "Dad! He's eleven years old! He can take care of himself!"

Draco shook his head. "Just watch out for him, Bella; he is your younger brother."

Bella rolled her eyes and muttered a quick, "Fine!" before she took her trolley and headed onto the Hogwarts Express.

Draco sighed and felt someone stare at him, he looked over across the platform and saw none other than his school enemy, Harry Potter. His wife, Ginny Weasley-Potter, accompanied him and what he assumed were his three children. He read in the daily prophet of the three young Potter spawns; the eldest, James Sirius, was his eldest daughter's age. His middle child, Albus Severus, was his son's age, and his youngest, Lily Luna, was two years older than his youngest daughter.

Draco also noticed Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger-Weasley with their two children, Rose and Hugo. Rose was the same age as Scorpius and Albus, while Hugo was the same age as Lily. He also saw the rest of Ron Weasley's numerous brothers, their children, and wives.

Draco smiled a little and gave a curt nod in the direction of the family. After the war, Draco had told Harry that he was sorry for the way he had treated him in school, and that he was only a death-eater because his father forced him into it. Harry accepted his apology, and they have been on good terms ever since.  
>Scorpius hauled on his father's robes, trying to get his attention, "Dad…"<p>

"Yes son?" Draco asked, looking down at his only son.

Scorpius looked nervously at his father, "Where's Naomi?"

*****HS*****

Side by side, the Potter family pushed their youngest son, Albus' trolley forward, gathering speed. As they reached the barrier, Albus winced, but no collision came. Instead, the family emerged onto platform nine and three-quarters, which was obscured by thick white steam that was pouring from the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Indistinct figures were swarming through the mist, into which Harry's eldest child, James, had already disappeared.

"Where are they?" asked Albus anxiously, peering at the hazy forms they passed as they made their way down the platform.

"We'll find them," said Ginny reassuringly.

Albus looked around the mist for his aunts, uncles, and cousins. A group of four people emerged from the mist, standing alongside the very last carriage. Their faces only came into focus when Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Albus had drawn right up to them. The family consisted of Albus's Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, and their two kids.

"Hi," said Albus, sounding immensely relieved.

Rose, who was already wearing her brand-new Hogwarts robes, beamed at him.

"Parked all right, then?" Ron asked Harry. "I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confound the examiner."

"No I didn't," said Hermione, "I had complete faith in you."

"As a matter of fact, I did Confund him," Ron whispered to Harry, as together they lifted Albus's trunk and owl onto the train. "I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it: I can use a Supersensory Charm for that."

Back on the platform, they found Lily and Hugo, Rose's younger brother, having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts. The conversation got even more heated when their cousins, Louis and Nymphadora added into the conversation. Lily looked up and noticed that the rest of her rather large family was now altogether.

"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you." said Ron, "But no pressure."

"Ron!"

The younger part of the Potter-Weasley clan laughed, but Albus and Rose looked solemn.

"He doesn't mean it," said Hermione, glaring at her husband.

The two children visibly relaxed and went on talking about what to expect at Hogwarts while their parents talked about adult matters such as politics or their kids.

"Louis will be going to Hogwarts next year as well, Fleur, your house will be empty," Hermione said politely.

"You and Ron will not have any left in a few years either, unless you have another!" Fleur said in her thick French accent.

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, what do you think, Ron?"

However, Ron was no longer paying attention. Catching Harry's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.

"Look who it is."

Draco Malfoy was standing there with his children; he caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again.

"Mum?" Albus said quietly, "Are we really going to be disowned if were put in Slytherin?"

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" a little voice coming from Naomi Malfoy asked, looking up at the black-haired boy with big blue eyes. Naomi was very small for her age, so she only looked about four or five.

"Nothing," Ginny replied, "and no, Albus, we won't."

Naomi tilted her head and went over to the younger children, "Hi!"

"Hullo!" Lily said to the girl, "Who are you?"

"Naomi Malfoy." Naomi said beaming, "Who are you?"

"Lily Potter!" Lily said giggling.

"Naomi? Naomi? Naomi? Oh, there you are!" Draco said running over to his daughter and picking her up, "You scared me princess."

"Sorry Daddy, I was bored, and I wanted to explore! When can I go on the train, daddy?" the girl asked from her father's arms.

Draco laughed, "Another four years yet, Princess." He then turned to Harry, "Thank you for keeping her close."

Harry nodded, "She kind of just wandered over here."

Draco nodded, looking at the watch on his wrist, "It's almost eleven, Scorpius, time to get on the train."

Naomi started to cry, "_No!"_ she yelled, climbing out of her father's arms and clinging to her brother.  
>Scorpius sighed and hugged the younger girl, "It's okay Naos, you'll be fine at home with dad, and I'll write every day."<p>

"Promise?"

Scorpius nodded and looked over to the eleven-year-old Potter and Weasley. Harry gave his son a hug and ushered him towards the train, as did he with his older brother. Rose followed Albus, and, a few seconds later, when he pried his little sister off him, he followed the boy as well. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Harry.

"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he, Rose, and Scorpius craned around to look at the other students.

"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me, I'm extremely famous."

Albus, Rose, Scorpius, Hugo, and Lily laughed. As did Scorpius' father, Draco, but his little sister, as if she just realized, was in her father's arms crying, terrified of being away from her brother, of being all alone.

The train began to move and each child raised their hands in farewell to there parents. They were starting their first adventure away from home.

* * *

><p><em>Written For;<em>

_The Multi-Chapter BC with the prompt; Loneliness_

_The Multi-Map Chap Challenge with the prompt; Realize_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	2. On Our Way

**Chapter Two: **On Our Way

* * *

><p>Albus and Rose were still waving to their parents after the Hogwarts Express had left the platform. "Come on, let's go find a compartment," Rose said to her cousin.<p>

"Okay," Albus said, turning to the blonde boy who was awkwardly standing next to them, "Do you wanna sit with us too, Scorpius?"

Rose looked horrified, "Albus! Daddy said-"

"Rose, ignore what Uncle Ron said. He's just holding a grudge." Albus cut her off and turned to Scorpius, "Seriously, mate, I'm not going to let a feud between our parents that ended nineteen years ago stop me from socializing with you."

Scorpius smiled, "Me neither; I think that would be elongated and preposterous."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Quite, _what_?"

Scorpius laughed, "Preposterous; contrary to reason or common sense; utterly absurd or ridiculous. Elongated probably wasn't the right word... But it means making something bigger... In this case I meant blown out of proportion."

This time, it was Rose who raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know that… Looks like I have competition for being the smartest person in our year, then."

Albus and Scorpius laughed, and the trio started looking for a compartment. They couldn't find an empty one, but they found their Uncle Charlie's son, Arthur, sitting in a compartment with his friend, Colin.

"Hey Art, can we sit here?" Albus asked, ignoring Scorpius and Rose, who were in a heated discussion about potions versus cooking.

Arthur nodded, "Sure Al, hey Scor, how are ya?"

This got Scorpius' attention. "Oh! Hey Arty, Colin, I'm okay."

Arthur gave a curt nod and went back to playing wizard chess with Colin. Rose, however looked at Scorpius with a bemused look on her face, "How do you know Arthur?"

Albus, who could since Rose was going to go into a long heated speech, changed the subject rather quickly. "So which house do you think you're going to be sorted into?"

"Slytherin; you?" Scorpius asked, not even thinking about it. Albus thought this was a good guess though; all Malfoys were in Slytherin right?

"I'm not sure; I don't think I'm very brave… I'm not cunning, or smart, so maybe Hufflepuff…" Albus said, making a face. "I don't want to be a Hufflepuff though…"

Scorpius laughed, and the three of them started talking about the term and what they did before coming to Hogwarts, to little surprise to Albus, Rose and Scorpius had read all of their first-year textbooks and some other more advanced books as well.

"So," Albus started, "What kind of owl do you have?"

Scorpius grinned madly and took the sheet off his owl's cage. "This is Kieran."

Albus stared at the owl for a minute, its back was all black and he had a few white feathers on his front and face. His eyes were something else, it looked like the little owl was glaring at you with a dark look, making him seem very eerie and frightening, "What kind of animal is it?" Albus managed to ask after he was done staring at the owl.

"He's a _Strix nigrolineata_," Scorpius said without missing a beat, at Albus' confused look he laughed and continued, "A black and white owl, Albus."

"Why didn't you just say that?" Albus said, grinning, "He sure is scary looking."

Scorpius nodded, "He does. But he's really gentle as anything, he wouldn't hurt a fly."

Albus nodded and lifted the sheet off his owl as well, "This is Pygmy."

"Ooh! A _Glaucidium palmarum_! I haven't seen one of these before!" Scorpius said, smiling at Albus' owl.

Albus just looked confused, "A what? I thought she was a Colima Pygmy Owl?"

This time it was Rose who laughed, "It is Albus," Rose explained, "Scorpius is just being a know-it-all and using their scientific names."

Scorpius playfully hit Rose on the arm. "You're just jealous because you didn't know it!"

Rose shrugged, "I see I'm going to have to do more reading to keep up with you, Malfoy."

Scorpius laughed, "You'll have to do more than that, Weasley. From the age of five, I had to study the dictionary and learn every owl there is by its scientific name. It took me three years."

Albus and Rose just stared at Scorpius in pure horror and Scorpius just shrugged. "Wanna play Exploding Snap?" he asked, tying to change the topic. Albus and Rose, sensing he didn't want to elaborate anymore, nodded, and Scorpius got his Exploding Snap pieces and board from his trunk. The trio played Exploding Snap until there was a knock on the compartment door.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?"

Scorpius got up and got five packs of every-flavored beans, five packs of bubble gum, ten cauldron cakes, twenty packs of chocolate frogs, four pumpkin pastries, five pumpkin juices, and 10 licorice wands. He paid the trolley woman two gallons, three sickle, and five knuts, and brought the candy into the compartment.

"I got a huge load for everyone, even Arthur and Colin," Scorpius said, smiling and eating a chocolate frog, "Damn another Harry Potter… No offence, Albus."

Albus laughed, "None taken; I'm sick of getting him too."

The three first years spent the next hour or so showing each other their chocolate frog cards. Albus had Albus Dumbledore, a rare card ever since the second Wizarding War, while Scorpius had Tom Riddle and Gellert Grindelwald, two cards that came from a dark chocolate frog pack.

"I didn't know you could get dark chocolate frogs," Rose said, looking at Scorpius' cards.

Scorpius grinned. "You can in France. My grandmother's parents had a manor there that my grandmother got, well, because Great Aunt Bellatrix is dead and Great Aunt Andromeda was disowned."

Rose paused for a second. "Andromeda Tonks? You're related to my cousin, Albus' brother, Teddy Lupin?"

Scorpius nodded, "Yup, he's my favorite cousin."

"I heard that!" Arthur said from the other side of the compartment with a smile causing Scorpius to lick his tongue out at the older boy. Both boys looked at Rose, who had a disgusted look on her face, "How did you not know we were related?" Arthur asked with a confused expression, "Where do you think we go at Christmas?"

Rose shrugged, "Daddy says-"

"And there's the problem," Albus said with a shake of his head, "Uncle Ron don't know how to forgive and forget, Rose. I could have told you years ago that Teddy and Arthur were related to the Malfoy's because my dad told me, you have to stop believing all that he says."

"So that's how you know each other," Rose said ignoring what Albus said altogether. "You guys better get your robes on, were almost to Hogwarts." She added after a minute and grabbed her trolley down from the shelf.

Scorpius and Albus nodded and shoved their robes on over their Muggle clothing, "Why are you in your robes early, anyway?" Scorpius asked once he sat back down.

"Well," Rose started, "My mother told me when she was in Hogwarts that everyone put there robes on just before they got to Hogwarts, and sometimes she would have to rush because she didn't want to be stuck on the train. Therefore, I decided I wasn't going to be like anyone else and I definitely wasn't ever going to be stuck on the Hogwarts Express because I wasn't prepared. So I put my robes on before I came on the platform this morning."

"I'm sorry I asked," Scorpius whispered to Albus, causing the other boy to burst into laughter just as the Hogwarts Express came to a stop.

"Hey!" Rose exclaimed, chasing the two boys, who took their trunks and owls and ran for the opening, away from the angered girl.

"Get back here, Malfoy!" Rose shouted as she ran after them, catching up with them when Rose and Albus' cousin, Victorie had stopped them.

"It isn't even the first day of school, you three," Victorie said with a shake of her head and a sigh. "I'm not going to give you a detention, mainly because I can't, not because you're my cousins… Don't give me that look Albus Severus Potter! Your brother had to have told you that I give detentions to anyone who breaks the rules."

"I didn't believe him," Albus countered. "You were always so nice at home."

"Watch it," Victorie scolded with a frown. "I am still nice as long as you follow the rules."

"Yes mum," Albus said with a roll of his eyes causing Scorpius to burst out laughing.

"And who might you be?" Victorie asked turning her attention to the blonde. Scorpius noticed that her blue eyes had a tint of green when she was angry, he had heard about the older girls mother's unruly temper, _mix that with her grandmother's and you get one scary person_, he thought.

"Scorpius," he said politely. "Scorpius Malfoy."

"Victorie Weasley," Victoire said extending her hand. "Head Girl."

"She wishes my brother was head boy," Albus whispered to Scorpius with a sly grin. "Unfortunately, he graduated last year."

"Albus Potter!"

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other and decided to make a run for the train doors- after all, getting a detention was better than subjecting to an angry Victorie Weasley.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Rubbish<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; Elongate_

_The Mega Novel Competition_


	3. The Great Hall

**Chapter Three: **The Great Hall

* * *

><p>Albus and Scorpius had managed to get to the entrance of the train without anyone else stopping them to their relief, Victoire had stopped chasing them but they had a strange suspicion that Rose was still around somewhere, probably angry that she almost got a detention because of them.<p>

""Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" the voice of Hagrid announced loudly when Albus and Scorpius got off the train. "Oh, h'ya Al!"

"Hey Hagrid!" Albus said, smiling.

"C'mon, follow me- any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow, and uneven path on a hill. Albus and Scorpius, who stayed away from Rose, looked around with awe. The path was full of mud, which was why it was so slippery, and there were thick trees all around, causing the path to be very dark. Scorpius, refusing to fall and get muddy, clutched onto Albus' arm to keep steady, which, unfortunately for them, caused Albus to lose his balance. Both boys fell into the mud, and since the path was so steep, they started to skid down the hill. Albus was laughing hysterically while Scorpius was screaming in fear, clutching onto the black-haired boy even tighter. When they got down to the end of the hill, they stood up and waited for the others. Scorpius, whose pale blond hair was now brown from all the mud, looked disgusted, and scowled at his new friend.

"Hey, don't go pouting at me, Mud Face. You're the one who held onto me and made me lose my balance!" Albus exclaimed, sticking his tongue out.

Scorpius laughed and pointed his wand to his head. "Scourgify!"

Albus watched as all the mud from Scorpius' hair and robes disappeared in barely hidden awe. Scorpius could do spell like that? Albus could barely swish his wand around, let alone do attempt to try a spell.

Scorpius looked at his new friend's shocked expression and shrugged, "The Ministry of Magic ignores magic done by minors if they're under the age of eleven. My father gave me his old wand and taught me some basic spells. I just read up on other ones and eventually learned some."

Albus shook his head, "But like… don't you have to be like… really powerful to be able to do spells before you learn at Hogwarts?"

Scorpius nodded, "Sort of. The only spells I know are a few we learn in Hogwarts in first year, and the advanced ones I know, I can't control. It's something like doing underage magic, it isn't in your control, but it is, you know? Magic comes from your emotions, so if you feel really strongly about something, you can do anything."

Albus looked crestfallen, "So why can't I do any magic?"

Scorpius shrugged, "It took me all last year to learn how to do spells with a wand, before it just happened, you'll get there, you're at Hogwarts now, remember?"

Before Albus had a chance to reply to Scorpius, Hagrid and the rest of the first years were down the hill. "If yer look thataway, around the bend, you can see the cas'le." He said, "Ya'll right, Al? Lil Scor'ous?"

Both boys nodded and looked where Hagrid was pointing; the castle was huge, and it caused many amazed expressions from the group of first years.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid said to everyone. Albus and Scorpius got into a boat with two boys. "Mind if we sit here?" Scorpius asked, and the two other boys shook their heads.

Rose, who clearly wanted to get to Albus and Scorpius, got in the boat next to them, along with three other girls.

"That," Rose said, talking about their slide in the mud, "was for calling me a big mouth!"

Scorpius smirked, "I'm sorry, dear ol' Rosie. Did I hurt your feelings? And wait… I didn't call you a big mouth."

Rose glared at the blonde boy, "It was implied!"

Scorpius erupted into laughter along with Albus. After a few minutes, Rose started laughing as well. Once all the first years were in the boats and Hagrid had yelled forward, the boats started going over the lake and towards the castle.

"I'm Perry Patil," one of the boys said, "And this is my brother Alexander."

"Albus Potter," Albus said, "And this is Scorpius Malfoy."

"Albus Potter?" the boy introduced as Alexander asked, "As in Harry Potter's son?"

Albus laughed and nodded, "Yes."

"He was in our mother and father's year," Perry explained, "Our father died before we were born, and our mother wasn't married to him, so we got her last name."

"I believe your father didn't like our mother, or our Aunt Paddy." Alexander explained to Scorpius, "but I don't hold grudges."

Scorpius laughed, "I'm nothing like my father was, don't worry."

Albus thought for a minute, "Oh! You're Parvati Patil's twin sons! My father told me about all of the people who were in the DA in his fifth year. He said last he heard she was with Dean Thomas. Was that your father?"

The boys nodded.

Albus smiled, "What house do you think you're going to get into?"

"Gryffindor," Both boys said, smiling widely.

Once the boats got to the castle, all the first years got out, and waited for the Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" greeted Headmistress McGonagall, causing everyone who was talking to their friends to quiet instantly. The old witch, who didn't look much different in the nineteen years she had been Headmistress, went on to tell the first years all that they needed to know about Hogwarts. When she finished her speech, she walked out of the room and disappeared around the bend.

"She looks… strict." Albus whispered to Scorpius, who nodded his head, agreeing with the other boy. A few minutes later, she came back with a brown patched, frayed and extremely dirty wizard's hat. "Form a straight line!" she said, "And follow me!"

Albus got behind a blonde-headed girl while Scorpius got behind Albus. They all followed the headmistress to the front of the Great Hall.

Albus looked around the great hall: the room was twice as big as his house and there were four long tables with people sitting on them._The house tables,_ he thought. He also noticed when he was walking in the room that there was a head table with a bunch of professors: Neville Longbottom, Charlie Weasley, Hagrid, and Andromeda Tonks were the only ones Albus recognized. Neville, Albus knew, taught Herbology, and Hagrid Care Of Magical Creatures, but Albus was just as surprised to see his Uncle Charlie and Grandma Andy as the rest of the hall was.

To avoid looking at the students, Albus glanced upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Rose whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

He rolled his eyes, "I know Rose, Aunt Hermione has said many times."

I guess that's the sorting hat, Albus thought, once Headmistress McGonagall put down an old hat on a three legged stool. After a few minutes of awkward silence, the hat tore at the bottom, forming his mouth, and began to sing:

_"At Hogwarts I was crafted_

_Many years ago_

_And through the ages I have seen_

_Great wizards come and go_

_Whether gifted with a clever mind_

_Courage, wit, or virtues_

_You must stay wary of your talents_

_And with which purpose they are used_

_While we glory in these days of peace_

_We all still must remember_

_The sacrifices that were made_

_For our world to continue to prosper_

_History can repeat itself_

_Without continued examination_

_So while you're learning to use magic_

_Keep justice as your foundation_

_The pointless deaths of war will haunt_

_This hat for all existence_

_For I have seen too many lives_

_Be paid because of intolerance_

_Witch or wizard, muggle or squib_

_House-elf or centaur_

_The responsibility lies in all of us_

_To treat the lot as brother_

_And as I have said many times_

_And will say again_

_I sometimes do regret sorting_

_Separating those that might have been friends_

_Whether Gryffindor or Ravenclaw_

_Slytherin or Hufflepuff_

_You must stay united for what is right_

_This I cannot stress enough_

_Though I'm just a sorting hat_

_I have knowledge deep within_

_But you've all listened enough tonight_

_Let the sorting now begin!"_

Headmistress McGonagall stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said and started to call out names Albus and Scorpius just looked at each other, bored until they heard, "Malfoy, Scorpius!"

"Good luck," Albus whispered to Scorpius who looked like he was about to puke. Scorpius nodded and slowly made his way up to the stool. _I just have to be in Slytherin._

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; The harder they fall<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; Sorting_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	4. The Sorting

**Chapter Four: **The Sorting

* * *

><p><em>A Malfoy…<em> the hat commented. _You're very different than your father; you're bright, but I can tell you're scared as well. Slytherin won't do… Just won't do at all!_

_I have to be in Slytherin,_ Scorpius thought, in fear. _I just have to, please._

_Oh really, boy? I quite don't think so… The snake house isn't for kids such as yourself..._

_Please,_ Scorpius pleaded. _Please put me in Slytherin._

_Very well, I made up my mind, child. You will do great in…_ "GRYFFINDOR!"

Scorpius looked like he had gone into shock as he slowly made his way to the cheering table on the far left. _I'm dead,_ the scared eleven-year-old thought, sitting down next to Arthur. _It's bad enough that I'm not in Slytherin... But Gryffindor? The rival house? I'm so dead._

_'It'll be okay',_ Arthur wrote on a napkin and passed to Scorpius causing the younger boy to snort. _'No it won't',_ he wrote back ignoring the worried glance his cousin sent him. If he thought that his mother was strict and hard on him before, he didn't have any idea what went on behind closed doors. What happened when no one else was around. And he'll never know, Scorpius thought darkly. He'd never know because if he did she'd kill him.

Scorpius ignored the rest of the ceremony, until he heard McGonagall call out, "Patil, Alexander."

The small boy went up and took his seat; the hat was on his head for about a minute before it yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Patil, Perry."

Alexander was crossing his fingers as he waited for the hat to call out his twin brother's house; after a few seconds, it called out, "GRYFFINDOR," much to the anxious boy's relief.

"Potter, Albus!"

Albus walked up to the stool nervously._ Another Potter._ the hat said in his head. _Y__ou're very much like your father… I see many qualities in you; You would do well in any of the houses... But I think you would be excellent in Slytherin…_

_Please Mr. Hat,_ Albus thought, _anything but Slytherin…_

_Ah, like your brother too, you are, the hat chuckled, he begged me not to be put in Slytherin as well. It's a shame, both of you would do so well... But if your sure…Then it better be..._"GRYFFINDOR!"

Albus hopped off the stool and partially ran to the table on the far left, taking a seat in the middle of Alexander and Scorpius, he watched the rest of the sorting with little interest until he heard, "Weasley, Rose!"

Rose, took all of three seconds to sort, and when the hat called out, "RAVENCLAW!" the Potter-Weasley clan couldn't really say they were surprised.

After Rose had sat down at the Ravenclaw table next to a girl named Megan, McGonagall went to her seat at the head table and said: "Welcome to the 2017-2018 year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as always, the Forbidden Forest, as its name suggests, is forbidden without teachers supervision. I've been told by our caretaker Mr. Filch that if caught dueling in the corridor's you will be doing a month's detention with him scrubbing the castle from top to bottom without magic. Finally, Quidditch trials will be held in next week. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact their respective captain; as always trials are not opened to First Years. Now, dig in!"

Albus watched as meals beyond meals appeared on the table, anything he could ever want: pork chops, steak, hamburgers, hot-dogs, lamb chops, salads, soups, puddings. He helped himself to a bit of everything and began eating. After the main meal was eaten, the food disappeared and dessert appeared, plenty as the main course was. Albus took some chocolate cake and a bit of Vanilla ice cream, which he figured had a cooling charm on it. Scorpius took two huge chocolate chip cookies and put vanilla ice cream in the middle of them, making a cookie ice-cream sandwich.

"That looks good," Albus said with a grin. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"My dad," Scorpius replied in between bites. "Why?"

"No reason," Albus said. "It's just a thing Muggles do... I never thought..."

"Is it really?" Scorpius asked, lost in thought. "That's interesting."

"Are you disappointed that you're not in Slytherin?" Albus asked with a tilt of his head, changing the subject.

"No," Scorpius answered truthfully. I'm terrified though went left unsaid.

"What will your dad think?" Albus asked causing Scorpius to snort.

"He'll be surprised, but he won't care. Mother is the one who will be disappointed." Scorpius paused. "She'll think I'm tarnishing the family name."

"That's horrible," Albus said with a shake of his head and Scorpius nodded.

When everyone was done eating and the desserts were spelled away, the Headmistress stood up once again. "I hope you all enjoyed the feast prepared by our house elves. Daisy, Winky, Sonny, Floppy, Slinky, Dory, Hoggy, Fairy, Slash, Rainbow, Feather, and Candy," as the headmistress said each house elf's name, they appeared in front of the head table and bowed.

"Your Aunt Hermione did that, didn't she Albus?" Alexander whispered pointing towards the front of the room.

Albus grinned. "Hogwarts is one of the only places SPEW got through too... She would hate the names though."

"They are kind of ridiculous," Alexander agreed.

"The elves normally stay in the kitchen, but if you so happen to need something, then you may summon one of them. However, they will not give you food unless you happen to find the kitchens. Now, before I dismiss you for the night, let us sing the Hogwarts Song in memory of Albus Dumbledore."

Everyone in the hall started singing the song in different tones and speeds. Of course, Albus's brother James, cousin Fred, and their friend Elijah were the last ones to finish with a slow and dull funeral march.

"Prefects are asked to show the first years to their respective dormitories and common rooms," McGonagall said after everyone finished singing. "As it is the weekend there will be no classes until Monday so use your time to learn how to get around the castle. I expect everyone to know their way around by early next week, you may be dismissed, goodnight."

Ava Finnegan was the Prefect bringing the Gryffindors to their common room up in the tower. After she showed them how to get there, and she showed them the common room, she sent them up to the fourth floor, which would be the first-year dormitories this year. Alexander, Perry, Scorpius, and Albus went up to their dorm room and looked around; their trunks were all by the door, waiting to be set at the end of their four-poster beds.

"What do you think?" Scorpius asked in general, laughing when Albus immediately went to a bed.

"I want this bed!" Albus exclaimed, claiming the bed at the far right end of the room. The room was a nice size, and the walls were painted red and gold: Gryffindor colors. The beds were four-poster, with curtains that the boys could close; the covers were red, while the outline of the bed was gold. There was a bed in the far end right corner, and the left, and then there was a bed as soon as you walked in the door by the bathroom, and one a few feet away from the bed in the right corner. While the beds in the two corners were pushed against two walls, the other two beds only had their headboards against a wall.

Albus took his trunk and put it at the end of the bed he chose. "Scorp, come take this bed!" he said, pointing to the bed next to his.

"Is that okay with you too?" Scorpius asked the twins, and they nodded, Perry taking the bed by the door while Alexander took the other one.

"It sure is big enough," Perry said, sitting on his bed and looking around. "You would never think the dorms would've been this big."

"Well there is four of us," Albus replied with a shrug. "There were five when my dad was here."

"That's true," Perry said with a nod. "What time is it?"

"Half past twenty-two hundred, not too late," Scorpius answered digging through his trunk pulling out a golden wall clock. "I'll put it up where everyone can see."

Perry yawned. "I think I'm going to head to bed."

"Me too," Alexander agreed with an identical yawn.

"We can decorate our dorm tomorrow," Scorpius offered.

"Yeah," Albus agreed. "Some of my older cousins have agreed to show me around tomorrow, you guys should defiantly come too."

All three boys agreed to go with Albus on the grand Weasley tour in the morning. Each boy took turns in the attached bathroom and said their good nights. As soon as each of them got in bed and closed their curtains, they fell right to sleep when their head hit the pillow; thinking about what different adventures they were going to have now that they were finally at Hogwarts.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Stress<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; Late_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	5. Settling In

**Chapter Five: **Settling In

* * *

><p><em>The room was dark and hazy as Scorpius attempted to walk through it; from the looks of things he was in a small and dark hallway leading nowhere, but the young boy still moved forward as fast as his legs could carry him. Faint screams could be heard from somewhere in front of him, as if someone was being hurt.<em>

_"Naomi?" Scorpius called, his voice breaking and weak. "Naomi, are you there?"_

_As Scorpius kept moving the screams got louder and louder; Scorpius could tell that it was his little sister screaming and he quickened his pace only to find his biggest nightmare at the end of the hall._

_There was a door that Scorpius easily recognized as the door to the cellar back at Malfoy Manor and on the other side of the door was a bruised and battered, unconscious Naomi Malfoy._

_"No, please, no..." He pleaded as he sunk down next to his little sister._

_"Not you too..."_

Scorpius woke up with a shrill yell causing all three sleeping boys to jump awake.

"What the hell?" Alexander said with a groan.

"Sorry," Scorpius said with a frown. "Go back to sleep."

"Scorpius?" Albus said groggily opening the curtains to his bed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Scorpius breathed deeply, fighting to keep his eyes from glassing over. "I'm fine."

Albus looked at his new friend with a skeptical look but decided to let it go. Alexander and Perry had already fallen back to sleep, but Albus kept his curtains opened just in case. It was only when Albus heard Scorpius sniffling into his pillow that he decided to go over to the other boy's bed and wrap his arms around him.

Scorpius stiffened. "What are you doing?"

"You're upset," Albus said matter of factly. "Hugging people helps them when they're upset. I'm not just going to do nothing," he pulled him closer. "Just sleep, it was only a dream."

Scorpius laid in Albus' arms, slightly shocked. Isn't this a thing that girls do? Hug out their feelings? He thought with a frown. _I'm not a girl. Though, I do feel a lot better. Albus is nice and warm._

"You smell good."

Albus looked at the other boy with an amused grin; something told him that the blonde didn't mean to say that, so he didn't even reply, much to Scorpius' delight.

"You can go back to bed, you know," Scorpius said after a few minutes. "I'm okay."

"I don't believe you," Albus said with a frown. "You're my friend, I'm not going to just leave you alone when you're upset."

Scorpius shrugged. "Fine, but at least lie down so you can sleep."

As soon as the words left Scorpius' mouth he wished he could take them back, how awkward did that even sound? Albus didn't mind though as he curled up under the covers next to Scorpius and soon after, both boys were asleep.

*****HS*****

A little before eight o'clock, all four boys went down for breakfast in the Great Hall. The hall was full, just like it had been the night before; the professors were at the head table, eating and conversing quietly while the rest of the students were doing the same at the four tables. Albus took a seat next to Scorpius and Perry, and helped himself to some bacon, eggs, and toast.

A few minutes after the four boys got into the Great Hall, the owls came in and Kieran dropped a red letter in front of Scorpius. Albus noticed Scorpius paling and mumbling what sounded like, "Muffliato! Muffliato! _Muffliato!"_

Scorpius touched the red howler and it started screaming at him. "_SCORPIUS HYPERON MALFOY HOW DARE YOU GET SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR?! WHEN I GET YOU HOME, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU DISGRACED THE NAME OF MALFOY, YOU WORTHLESS CHILD! YOUR FATHER ISN'T TOO PLEASED EITHER! YOU WILL BE SORRY! AND YOU BETTER HAVE A SILENCING CHARM UP OR YOU WILL BE DOUBLE SORRY! IN ADDITION, YOU BETTER BE DOING YOUR READING! YOU WILL BE HAVING AN EXTRA LONG TEST ON IT WHEN YOU GET HOME!"_

Albus just stared at the howler as it ripped itself up. The voice coming from it was a female voice and Albus assumed it was Scorpius' mother. She sounded super angry, and Albus pondered if she was serious about killing him. Of course she wasn't, right? His mother told him she was going to kill him all the time and he knew she would never do that. So why was Scorpius so pale?

*****HS*****

Scorpius' stomach did a flip-flop when he saw the howler coming towards him. His mother must have gotten the news of him being in Gryffindor. Oh crap, he thought, looking at the red envelope.

"Muffliato! Muffliato! _Muffliato!"_ he whispered pointing his wand at the howler, Please work!

Every word that came out of his mother's mouth made him pale even more than he usually was. When the Howler ripped itself up, Scorpius looked over at Albus, who was looking at him strangely. Shit, he thought, Albus heard it too.

Luckily for him, before Albus could say anything to him, the prefects came around with their schedule. Scorpius looked at the yellow piece of parchment to see what classes he would have.

_First year classes_

_September to December 2017_

**Monday**

8:15-9:15 – Transfiguration with _Ravenclaw_

9:30-10:30 - Potions with _Slytherin_

10:45-11:45 - Continued Potions with _Slytherin_

12:00-13:00 - Lunch

13:15-14:15 - Charms with_ Ravenclaw_

14:30-15:30 - History of Magic with _Hufflepuff_

**Tuesday**

8:15-9:15 - Defence Against the Dark Arts with _Slytherin_

9:30-10:30 - Defence Against the Dark Arts with _Slytherin_

10:45-11:45- Potions with _Slytherin_

12:00-13:00 - Lunch

13:15-14:15 - Herbology with_ Hufflepuff_

14:30-15:30 - Charms with_ Ravenclaw_

00:00 to 1:30 – Astronomy with _all houses_

**Wednesday**

8:15-9:15 – Defence Against the Dark Arts with_ Slytherin_

9:30-10:30 – Herbology with _Hufflepuff_

10:45-11:45– Transfiguration with _Ravenclaw_

12:00-13:00 - Lunch

13:15-14:15 – Charms with_ Ravenclaw_

14:30-15:30 – Charms with _Ravenclaw_

**Thursday**

8:15-9:15 - History of Magic with _Hufflepuff_

9:30-10:30 - Transfiguration with_ Ravenclaw_

10:45-11:45- Transfiguration with _Ravenclaw_

12:00-13:00- Lunch

13:15-14:15- Potions with_ Slytherin_

14:30-15:30- Defence Against the Dark Arts with _Slytherin_

00:00 to 1:30 – Astronomy with _all houses_

**Friday**

8:15-9:15 - History of Magic with _Hufflepuff_

9:30-10:30 - History of Magic with _Hufflepuff_

10:45-11:45- Herbology with _Hufflepuff_

12:00-13:00- Lunch

13:15-14:15- Herbology with_ Hufflepuff_

14:30-15:30- Free Period

00:00-1:30 – Astronomy with _all houses_

**Saturday**

13:00-15:00 Flying lessons with_ all houses_

**Notes:**

Breakfast is at 6:30 to 9:00 every morning.

Lunch is at 12:00 to 13:30 on Weekends.

Supper is at 16:30 to 18:00 every night.

Curfew for years 1-3 is 21:00 on weeknights

Curfew for years 4-7 is 22:00 on weeknights

Curfew for years 1-2 is 21:30 on weekends

Curfew for years 3-4 is 22:30 on weekends

Curfew for years 5-6 is 23:00 on weekends.

Curfew for year 7 is 00:00 on weekends.

Extra-Curricular activities will be announced in October.

"Double potions Monday morning," Albus said with a frown and Scorpius just nodded blankly, clearly thinking about something else.

Albus frowned. "Are you okay, Scorpius?"

Scorpius expressed a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, Albus, I'm fine."

*****HS*****

After breakfast Albus, Scorpius, Perry, and Alexander followed Albus' relatives around the school. After about an hour Alexander and Perry decided to go exploring on their own. When the tour was over (and conveniently ended at Gryffindor tower) Albus looked at Scorpius with a grin. "Want to go decorate our dorm?"

Scorpius nodded. "Sure."

When the duo got to their dorm room, they noticed Perry and Alexander were already there decorating their side of the room.

"Hey guys, got the same idea?" Albus asked, smiling.

The twins nodded. "Yes, and we are going to get our cousin-" Alexander started

"-To help us transfigure some stuff." Perry finished, looking at the both boys' expressions with an amused smile. "Was it-"

"-Something we said?"

"How the hell do you do that?" Albus asked in awe. "My Aunt Luna had twins, but they can't talk like that!"

"Do what?" Perry asked with a small smile, looking at his twin brother with a knowing look.

"Talk like you're one person!" Albus exclaimed, still looking amazed.

"It's what you call twin telepathy; Muggle twins can't do it constantly, but wizard twins could if they wanted to. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but in one of the books in my library back home, it said that when identical twins are conceived, the egg splits in two, but before it does that, it shares everything, including a brain. So researchers think that that's why identical twins can finish each other's sentences," Scorpius said from the other side of the room. He was sitting at a desk that Albus just noticed, sorting out papers and his books.

The three boys just stared at the should-be-Ravenclaw. "Why aren't you in Ravenclaw again?" Alexander asked.

Scorpius shrugged. "I don't even know why I'm in Gryffindor; I asked the damn thing to put me in Slytherin."

Albus looked dumbfounded. "It wanted me to be put in Slytherin! But I asked it not too… Why did it listen to me, and not you?"

Scorpius thought for a minute. "I don't know, what did you say to it?"

"I told it to put me anywhere but Slytherin." Albus said simply, "I didn't care where else I went."

"That's probably why, then," Scorpius said, turning around so his back was facing the boys.

Albus, indicating that Scorpius wasn't going to say anything else, turned to the twins, "So, why didn't you guys twin talk before now?"

Perry shrugged. "We don't do it all the time; it gets annoying after a while."

*****HS*****

A half hour before curfew, the four boys sat down on their beds and looked at the work they had done. There was now a desk by every boy's bed. Perry and Alexander's cousin had transfigured buttons into desks for all the boys.

Scorpius had put all of his books and study materials on his desk while the other boys just threw their books on it and didn't have much organization to it. The walls were covered with Quidditch posters and pictures.

"I think it looks alright," Alexander said, looking around the room.

Scorpius snorted. "Yeah. It's presentable. I have no idea how you can work like that."

"Not everyone is a neat freak, Scorpius," Perry said sticking out his tongue.

Both boys laughed and all four of them got ready for bed, excited to see what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Threat<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; eggs_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	6. Protego

**Chapter Six:** Protego

* * *

><p>On Monday morning, Scorpius was the first of the four boys to wake up. He quietly took a shower, and when he got out he looked in the mirror and sighed at his reflection. By the time Albus woke up, Scorpius was sitting on his bed, dressed and reading a book.<p>

"Morning," Albus said quietly, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

"Good Morning, Albus." Scorpius said, placing a bookmark in his book, "the twins are still asleep, so I'd go get a shower before they wake up if I were you."

Albus nodded. "Thanks."

Scorpius gave him a small grin and went back to reading his book.

*****HS*****

Albus soon found out that his Uncle Charlie was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. When he went into the classroom with Scorpius, the scarred man was sitting at his desk. Albus and Scorpius sat in the front middle desk and looked at the older Weasley.

"Professor Weasley, are you alright?" Scorpius asked, getting his book out of his backpack.

"Yeah, Uncle Charlie, you look like death overtook you." Albus added, looking at his uncle.

"Professor Weasley, Mr. Potter, and yes, I'm fine, don't worry." Charlie said, looking up when he heard his nephews come in. "Alright class, settle down. My name is Charlie Weasley, but you will call me Professor Weasley, or sir. That goes for all of you, Mr. Potter."

Albus blushed and nodded at his uncle. "Now, today we are going to be learning about the curse _capillos damnum _and the counter curse, _capillos crasso_. Now, who can tell me what these spells do?"

Albus looked around the room and no one had their hand raised, but he could tell that Scorpius knew the answer, "Go on, tell him!" he whispered to his friend.

"The curse makes you lose your hair, and the counter curse, if used in time, thickens your hair." Scorpius said quietly, not looking up at the professor.

Charlie smiled. "Very good, Mr. Malfoy. Twenty-Five points to Gryffindor! Now, who knows what happens if the counter curse isn't used in time?"

Albus raised his hand. "Uhm… It falls out?"

Charlie laughed. "Yes, Mr. Potter. Five more points to Gryffindor!"

The lesson went on in the same manner, Charlie teaching more about the curse and counter curse and the class listening carefully. He told them how to wave their wands and how to pronounce the spells correctly. By the time the end of the first half of the class came, the students were getting quite bored.

"Alright, class! I think it's time to do some practice! Get in groups of two, one from Gryffindor and the other from Slytherin. Then come get a few stuffed trolls; one of you will do the curse, and the other will do the counter curse. If the troll loses his hair, the curser will earn five points for their house, but if the troll's hair thickens, the counter curser will earn the points." Charlie said, getting excitable expressions from all the first-year students.

Albus was paired off with a Slytherin boy with black hair, whose name he did not remember from the sorting, while Scorpius was paired off with a girl with blonde hair, who was the daughter of Pansy Parkinson. The rest of the class, the boys, and the other students practiced the curse and the counter curse, Scorpius getting the counter curse right every time, and Albus getting the curse right at the end of the class. By the time the bell rang, Scorpius had earned 50 points for Gryffindor by himself, but the whole class got 65 points for Gryffindor, while Slytherin got 35.

"Good job, class! Tomorrow we will be learning about the effects of using _capillos damnum _on a werewolf or an Animagi. I want a Two-foot essay on what an Animagi is for next class." Charlie said to his students, earning a groan from them all as they left for their next class.

*****HS*****

"We have potions next, right?" Scorpius asked Albus.

Albus nodded, "I bet the dungeons are freezing already," he said as they got onto a moving staircase. Scorpius chuckled, and the two friends made their way down to the dungeons, which were empty when they got there despite the fact that they should have all arrived at the same time.

"No one is here yet, typical Potions teachers." Albus said, rolling his eyes and making Scorpius laugh.

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Potter?" a voice said from the front of the room. Albus looked up, but found that the only thing he could see was an empty desk. A second later, one Severus Snape came out of his office door.

Albus' mouth dropped open. "S-Snape?"

Snape just glared at the young boy. "Professor Snape, Mr. Potter."

"But-But-But-I thought you were dead…" Albus said, looking at the man his father named him after, well, one of them.

Snape smirked. "I was, Mr. Potter. But obviously, I am no more."

At this time, the rest of the students started piling in, just as surprised as Albus was. "Alright, Quiet! My name is Severus Snape, but you will call me Professor Snape, or sir. I don't care who you are, or where you come from, I will be treated with respect. Now, you are in this class for the next seven years to learn about potions. There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. Potions, when brewed correctly, can be wonderful things. They can lessen pain, make you have a dreamless sleep, and they can even bring someone on their deathbed to full health. If this class isn't the usual class of dunderheads I have been forced to teach in the past, you can learn to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper on death. Any questions?"

A pudgy girl with long red hair put her hand up. "Yes, Miss Davis?"

"Uhm… Didn't you die?" the girl asked, and the class burst into laughter, Snape's mouth turned into a fine line and he replied. "Yes, Miss Davis, I did. Any questions relevant to my class?"

The class stayed quiet and Snape nodded curtly. "Good, turn your book to page twenty-one and read the whole chapter, I want a three feet essay on what you learned for next class."

*****HS*****

_Dear Dad,_

_I'm having a great time here in school, I was sorted into Gryffindor. Did you know that James begged the hat not to put him in Slytherin? Anyway, you'll never guess who our potions professor is… Severus Snape! Did you know he was still alive? Anyway, I think he is noticing that I'm not doing my work… I mean… I'm in the common room… Doing nothing… Anyway, Bye!_

_Your son,_

_Albus_

"Detention Mr. Potter! For not paying attention in class!" Snape said, glaring at the boy who looked much like his father.

Albus sighed. "Yes sir, I'm sorry sir."

Albus put the letter to his father away and started reading the pages he was assigned.

*****HS*****

The bell rang, and Scorpius looked up in relief. "Finally, lunch time! I'm starving!"

Albus laughed. "I'm going to stop by the owlery first; I'll meet you at the table okay?"

"Alright, I'll save you a seat!" Scorpius said, running out of the classroom and towards the stairs.

"Mr. Potter, I'll see you here at seven for your detention." Snape said as Albus was packing his books into his book bag. The young boy nodded and made his way to the owlery. When he got there, he sent his letter off with Pygmy and made his way to the Great Hall.

*****HS*****

Scorpius was almost finished with his lunch by the time Albus got there. He passed the boy a sandwich and he finished his juice. "We have class in ten minutes, better eat while you walk."

Albus nodded. "What do we have?"

Scorpius made a face. "Herbology."

The two friends made their way through the Entrance Hall and up the ground floor corridor when they heard someone shout. "_Stupefy_!"

_"Protego!"_ Scorpius casted, getting down on his knees with his hands in front of him, making a shield project over the two boys, blocking the spell. Scorpius looked behind them and saw none other than his big sister. "Bella," He nodded. "Don't be so complacent."

"Scorpius," Bella smirked. "I see father has taught you well."

Scorpius laughed ironically along with his big sister while Albus scowled. "You know you're very mature, Bellatrix Malfoy. Sending a curse at two first-years when you know they can't protect themselves. Well, normal first-years couldn't." Albus said glaring at Scorpius' sister.

Bella cocked her eyebrow. "And who might you be?"

"Albus," Albus said. "Albus Potter."

Realization came on Bella's face. "Oh mother will _love_ this!"

Scorpius glared at his older sister. "You know, Bella. You really have to grow the bloody hell up. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get to Herbology. Goodbye, sister."

*****HS*****

"I want you to stay away from my sister," Scorpius said to Albus when they got to the transfiguration courtyard, "She's a lot more dangerous than a stunning curse."

Albus rolled his eyes. "I can take care of myself, Scorpius."

Scorpius laughed. "You can barely cast a hair thickening counter curse, let alone something more complex!"

Albus blushed, before scowling in annoyance. "Fine." He said quietly, "But only because you're right, and I don't stand a chance against a third-year."

Scorpius smirked. "Good."

Albus stopped. "Scorpius, how the heck didyou do that?"

Scorpius sighed. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Albus."

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Complacence<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; _Stupefy__

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	7. Detention and Older Brothers

**Chapter Seven:** Detention and Older Brothers

* * *

><p>"Oh look who decided to join us, class, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy," Professor Longbottom said when Albus and Scorpius walked through the third greenhouse door.<p>

Albus frowned. "Sorry Uncle Neville, a third-year attacked us, or tried to, and we got held up."

"Professor Longbottom, Albus," Neville said, giving the boy with a stern look, which made all of the Gryffindors burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"That's the third time Albus was told not to call a professor by their first name today," Alexander explained through fits of laughter.

Neville chuckled. "Please do try to remember, Albus. Now, what's this about a third-year attacking you? Who was it?"

"Scor-" Albus began.

"We don't know," Scorpius cut Albus off, "He came out of nowhere and tried to hit us with a stunning spell. I cast a shield and then we ran."

Albus looked at Scorpius funny and he just shot him a look that said_ 'For the love of god Albus, go along with me.'_ Neville thought about this for a moment, took their answer and got back to teaching the class.

*****HS*****

When the bell rang, Scorpius and Albus stayed close to Alexander and Perry. "What really happened?" Alexander asked.

Albus laughed. "That did really happen."

Perry looked confused. "You cast a fourth-year spell?"

Scorpius nodded. "Something like that. Except we knew the person, it was my older sister, but if we had tried to get her in trouble, she would have tried to kill us."

Perry, Alexander, and Albus' mouths dropped open. Scorpius just shrugged. "It's true."

"Wow." All the boys replied, and the four of them walked to the Charms classroom on the third floor.

"Aunt Andy!" "Grandma Andy!" Scorpius and Albus exclaimed at the same time when they saw that the women teaching Charms was none other than Andromeda Tonks.

The women smiled at the two eleven-year-old boys. "Hello Albus, Scorpius."

Alexander and Perry tried to keep their laughter in, but they failed, and Andy just looked at them funny.

"They're amazed that Albus knows all the teachers by name," Scorpius explained to his Great-Aunt.

Andromeda nodded. "Alright than, pick your seats."

Albus and Scorpius sat at a table with Alexander and Perry. The Charms classroom was a lot different than the other classrooms they were in. Potions had working stations set up two to a table. Defense Against the Dark Arts was pretty much the same except there were four to a table. Herbology was a greenhouse, so the students just stood around. But for Charms, the tables were different. The stations were the same as any other classroom, except instead of them all in rows, two stations of four were pushed together, so four students had their back to the teacher. Albus and Scorpius were facing Andy, while Perry and Alexander were across from Albus and Scorpius with their back to her.

When the Ravenclaws came in, Rose sat next to Albus, and her friend sat next to her. "This is Megan Davies," Rose introduced, "Megan, this is my cousin Albus Potter, and his friend Scorpius Malfoy. Those other boys I'm assuming are their dorm mates."

"Perry," the boy said, taking the young girl's hand. "Perry Patil. Oh, and this is my brother."

"Hey!" Alexander said, cuffing his brother upside the head. "I'm Alexander."

"Alright class!" Andy said, getting everyone's attention, "My name is Andromeda Tonks, you can call me Andromeda or Andy; I hate all this professor nonsense, it makes me feel old."

The class laughed and Andy continued. "Today we're going to work on the charm _Wingardium Leviosa. _Who can tell me what this spell does?"

Rose's hand shot up immediately. "Yes, Rose?"

"It levitates an object." She said with a smile on her face.

"Very good, ten points to Ravenclaw," Andy said, "Now, the wand movement is like this, swish and flick, everyone should have a feather to practice on, yes? Alright! You may start practicing!"

"Wingardium Leviosa," Scorpius said, making Albus rise out of his seat into the air.

_"Scorpius!"_ Albus yelled,_ "Put me down!"_

Scorpius laughed. "What are the magic words?"

_"Now, Scorpius!"_ Albus yelled. "_Grandma Andy!"_

Andy looked over at the two boys with shock written all over her face. "Scorpius, dear, are you the one levitating Albus?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yup! It's great fun!"

Andy shook her head. "Excellent performance, Scorpius."

_"You're supposed to be on my side, Grandma!"_

Andromeda and Scorpius ignored him. "Twenty points to Gryffindor!" the teacher awarded her pupil. "Now, do put him down,_gently_."

Scorpius smirked. "Of course." He said as he dropped Albus in lighting speed, which would have caused him to crash into the table, but before he reached it, Scorpius caught him with the charm, and let him down gently.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Albus exclaimed when he caught his breath. "If I wasn't afraid of heights, I would have enjoyed that a lot! I still really hate you though for that."

Scorpius laughed. "I do it to my sister all the time, she's terrified of heights, and she hates me for it."

Albus smirked. "What a jerk."

"And you don't torture your baby sister?" Scorpius asked, and Albus just shrugged. Meanwhile, next to him, Rose still couldn't get her feather to float, and was beginning to feel very jealous of Scorpius Malfoy.

*****HS*****

The rest of the day flew by, and before Albus knew it, it was time for his detention with Snape. He went down to the Potions classroom and quietly knocked on the door, getting a faint 'enter' from inside. Albus went in and sat in the seat he had sat in earlier that morning. "Good evening, sir."

"Good evening, Mr. Potter." Snape said, "Please write the line behind me fifty times."

Albus nodded and began to do his lines. After a while, he looked up at the Potions professor and said, "You know you saved his life."

Snape looked confused. "Whose life?"

"My father's," Albus said quietly, "You took him away from those dreaded people. Without you, I might not even be here."

"Without me, Lily might still be alive," Snape said quietly, not thinking the young boy had heard him.

"I know that," Albus said, a little loudly. "But everyone makes mistakes. You made that one and you've been beating yourself up ever since. My grandmum died a hero; she saved my father's life. It wasn't you who killed her, Professor Snape, it was Voldemort."

Snape looked at the young boy with a questionable look. "How do you know all of this?"

Albus grinned sheepishly. "My dad has a pensive and I well… Last summer when my parents were at work and my brother was babysitting me and my little sister, I did all my brother's chores for the whole summer so he'd let me and my sister go in dad's study and look at his pensive. He didn't think we'd get through the locks."

Snape smirked. "Troublemaker already, I see."

Albus smiled and went back to writing his lines. A few minutes later, when he finished, he looked up and asked, "Are you going to hate me too?"

Snape looked surprised. "What?"

"Are you going to hate me too?" Albus repeated. "I mean… For what Grandpa James did to you; I look like him too."

Snape smiled and shook his head. "No, Mr. Potter. I will not hate you for something that happened so many years ago."

Albus smiled. "Good. You're going to hate my sister, though."

"And why is that?" Snape asked, raising a brow.

"She's Lily," Albus said simply. "Same eyes, same long red hair, and same name."

*****HS*****

That night after Albus' detention, all four boys were in their dorm room playing Exploding Snap.

Scorpius laughed. "Let's get ready for bed, we have astronomy in four hours and I tend to get some sleep before."

Alexander looked at his brother. "Would-"

"But we can't-"

"'Cause we have to do our essays."

Albus and Scorpius just burst out laughing. "You guys haven't done your essays yet? It's twenty hundred hours!"

"We know, don't wait up," Both boys said at the same time, and headed down to the common room to work on their essays.

*****HS*****

When the two boys were ready for bed, there was a knock on the door. "Who in the world is that?" Scorpius asked, getting in bed, "You get it."

"Of course," Albus said, rolling his eyes, "Come in!"

"BellaMalfoyisgoingonabouttwofirstyearGryffindorboyssheduelledearlertoday, saidtheywerebroughttothehospitalwing, thensaidsomethingaboutherbro therandhislittlefriend, Idon'tknow, wasityou, Al?" James asked in a rush as soon as he came in the room.

"Jesus, James, I didn't understand one thing you just said," Albus said, rubbing his head, "Speak slower, will you?"

"Bella Malfoy, she said, she dueled two first-years and sent them to the hospital wing… Was it you?" James said slower, "She said something about her brother and his friend…"

Albus started laughing. "If she's talking about us, she didn't send either of us to the hospital wing, she tried to stun us, but it failed when Scorpius put up a shield!"

James nodded, relived. "Okay, be careful, little bro. Bella Malfoy is one dangerous witch. She almost got expelled three times last year."

"We know, James." Scorpius said from his bed; obviously the older boy didn't see him.

"Right," James said with a nod, "Now go to bed, I wouldn't want to have to give you detention."

Scorpius laughed, "We're in our room and it isn't even curfew yet, James."

James smiled. "True that, little snake, true that."

"Plus, Albus already had detention today," Scorpius said making a face. "And I'm not a snake."

James smiled and ruffled Albus' hair. "That's my little brother!"

"James!"

James just smiled. "Night lil bro! Night Scorpius."

"Goodnight James," both boys said at the same time, when James left Albus turned off the light and got in bed, "You had to tell him that didn't you?"

"Yup," Scorpius said with a smirk, "Night Al."

"Goodnight Scor."

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Don't wait up for me<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; James_  
><em>_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	8. Christmas Plans

**Chapter Eight: **Christmas Plans

* * *

><p>The next few weeks passed by in a blur, and Scorpius and Albus found themselves getting closer and closer as the days flew past, often staying up late with Perry and Alexander playing Exploding Snap and sneaking around the castle. It was early November the next time both boys were called out by Scorpius' sister. Over the weeks Bella, Scorpius and Albus actually came to a truce of <em>you stay out of my way, I'll stay out of yours<em> and were somewhat civil towards each other.

"Oi, brother, brother's sidekick!" Bella shouted from across the hall as Scorpius and Albus were heading to transfiguration.

"What do you want, Bella? We're going to be late," Scorpius asked, half turning to face his sister.

"Just a heads up. The evil Sea Witch convinced dad to go away for the holidays," Bella said, crossing her arms and glaring at her brother.

"Okay, thanks Bells." Scorpius said with a smirk.

"Don't call me Bells!" Bella said glaring at her brother, "Later brother, brother's sidekick."

"I'm not his-" Albus started but before he could finish, Bella was gone. "Stupid third years."

Scorpius nodded, he couldn't agree more.

*****HS*****

"What do we have next?" Albus asked Scorpius, his mouth full of a tuna fish sandwich.

"Double History of Magic, Professor Binns is teaching us about the second war," Scorpius said with a roll of his eyes and Albus groaned.

"I've heard that story so many times…" Albus said and Scorpius nodded in agreement.

"Me too."

*****HS*****

"Now class, today were going to be learning about the second Wizarding War," Professor Binns said, "Who can tell me what happened in the first?"

Scorpius and Albus both raised their hands; they were currently a hundred points in the lead for the house cup and were getting all the points they could, "Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Well, Voldemort," Scorpius started, and everyone shuddered. "Heard of a prophecy about a baby who was going to stop him that was born the last day of July. There were only two babies born then, Professor Longbottom and Albus' dad."

"Death eaters went to Professor Lonbottom's house and tortured his parents, but Aurors showed up before they could kill Neville," Albus said, taking over from where Scorpius left off, "Voldemort himself went to my grandparents' house, their secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew had told Voldemort where they were staying, and he killed my grandparents. Since my grandmother died protecting her child, my father, when Voldemort sent off the killing curse to the baby it backfired and killed him, temporarily."

"Very good!" Professor Binns said, "Thirty points to Gryffindor!"

Scorpius and Albus high-fived while Professor Binns continued to talk about the second war. Albus wasn't really paying attention but when Scorpius said, "No Professor Binns, that isn't right. We didn't disappear after the war, grandmother and father went to Romania, and grandfather went on the run. They came back a few years later, father married mother and they had me and my sisters. The Malfoys didn't disappear."

Albus laughed at the look on Professor Binns face, "Ah, yes. Right. Well I want you all to do a five feet essay on what your parents roles were in the war, due next class!"

*****HS*****

_Dearest Scorpius,_

_How are you? Your mother and I are fine, although I can't really say much about Naomi. She has lost a lot of weight since September and the healer at St. Mungo's said that she was hiding her food. She's too young to be anorexic, don't worry about that, but I think she isn't eating because she misses you. You have been writing to her, haven't you? Your mother and I are trying to get her to eat but if you could write her a letter and encourage it, I bet it will do wonders._

_Your Father_

_P.S. Your mother has convinced me to go on a trip this Christmas, Naomi is going to stay with my mother and Bella has already stated that she was going to a friend's house. You may go to your grandmothers, or you can stay there in Hogwarts. Of course, if you want to go to a friend's house, that's okay too. We'll send your presents with a few owls who will know where you are anyway. Merry Christmas._

"Scor? You alright? You look pale," Albus said, eating his supper that night.

"My sister isn't eating, and Bella was right, mother and father are going away, so I have to stay here," Scorpius said looking at the letter with wide eyes.

"That's nonsense!" Albus said, smiling. "You'll come home with me!"

Scorpius smiled, "are you sure, Al? I don't want to be a bother…"

"You won't be, silly." Albus said playfully punching him on the shoulder, ignoring Scorpius flinching. "James has brought someone home before, I'll just send a letter to my parents tonight and ask, but I'm sure they won't mind."

"Thank you, Al." Scorpius said with a wide grin, "I would have hated to have to stay here."

****HS*****

_Dear Naomi,_

_How are you doing kiddo? I'm doing okay, I just finished my homework for History of Magic, that class is really boring. I'm sure you're going to hate it when you get here. Dad told me that you're going to Grandma Cissy's for Christmas. I bet that'll be fun, you love it there. I'm going to a friend's house, but don't worry, I'll see you sometime over the break. Now, as for you not eating, I swear, Naos, if you don't start eating I'm going to stop writing to you. I know you miss me, and I miss you too, but you have to eat. Got it?_

_I love you,_

_Scorpius_

*****HS*****

_Dear mum and dad,_

_First of all, I'm sorry about the last letter I sent. If I had known it would shock you into not replying, I would have waited to ask when I saw you at Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, could I bring a friend home with me? James does it all the time, and there is room! Well… Most of the time, when all of us aren't together. Is Christmas at our house or the Burrow this year? I think our house is better, it's bigger._

_I'm doing good in my classes, third best out of my whole year, my friend that I'm bringing home with me is first, and of course Rose is second. She's too smart for her own good. Anyway! I'm going to go send this letter then finish the horrible essay I have to do for History of Magic. You should hear Professor Binns talk about you, dad… It's horrible! And the way he looks at me! Anyway, this essay isn't going to write itself!_

_Much love,_

_Albus Severus_

*****HS*****

"I can't believe you're doing your essay tonight," Scorpius said, amazed at his best friend, "It's Friday night."

"I know," Albus said, not looking up from the parchment, "But exams are in four weeks and I'm determined to get a better grade than Rose."

Scorpius burst out laughing, "Good luck with that."

"You do it!" Albus defended himself.

"Yes, but I also read a lot more then you do. But if it really means a lot to you, I'll help you get better exam marks then Rose." Scorpius said grinning, "Least I can do for not having to stay here Christmas, right?"

Albus nodded with a smile on his face, "Right."

*****HS*****

Later that night after Scorpius and Albus ate their dinner, both boys occupied a two seater couch in the corner of the Gryffindor common room with their History of Magic textbooks. Alexander and Perry had asked them to go to the kitchens (which the four of them found in record time the first week of school) and grab some dessert with them but both boys refused. "Your loss," Alexander had replied with a shrug of his shoulders following his brother out of the portrait hole.

"What year did Albus Dumbledore defeat Gellert Grindelwald?" Scorpius asked, making notes of important facts he knew were going to be on the exam.

"1945, one of them also killed Ariana Dumbledore," Albus replied after a few seconds, his textbook was in front of him on the couch, and he had his short skinny legs tucked under him while he looked at Scorpius for any hint that he had the right answer.

"Right," Scorpius said, "What year was Harry Potter born?"

Albus looked at Scorpius in shock, "You can't be serious…"

"I'm dead serious," Scorpius said, laughing at Albus' reaction.

"1980, July thirty-first." Albus said shaking his head in disbelief.

"What years where his children born?" Scorpius asked, trying to hold in his laughter.

"Oh my god," Albus said, shaking his head, "That's why people were asking me when I was born…"

"You obviously weren't paying attention in class the other day," Scorpius said with a smirk.

"Lily was born in 2008, I was born in 2006, James was born in 2004, and Teddy was born in 1998." Albus said, shaking his long raven black hair around, causing Scorpius to laugh even more.

"Come on Al," Scorpius said, trying to contain his laughter, "You're getting side tracked. What year did Albus Dumbledore die?"

"Uh…" Albus said, thinking. "When my dad was in year six?"

Scorpius smiled, "Yes Albus, but what year was that?"

"1996?" Albus asked, doing the math in his head.

Scorpius laughed, "Nope, 1997, it was in May, Al."

"Right."

For the rest of the night, Scorpius asked Albus questions and Albus answered them, getting most of them right. They didn't stop until it was late into the night and they both were dropping from exhaustion, going straight to bed from the common room, not bothering to stay awake and talk.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Kitchen<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; ate_  
><em>_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	9. Exams

**Chapter Nine: **Exams

* * *

><p>"Attention students!" Headmistress McGonagall said, one cold morning the first week in December, "As you all know, Christmas Break is in two weeks, which means exams are next week. One of the papers going around your tables is the exam schedule, Prefects, give them out to the students. Another paper going around is the sign sheet for who is going to be staying in Hogwarts this Christmas. If you are not staying do not sign it."<p>

All the students nodded in response and the prefects gave out the schedules. Albus and Scorpius were busy looking to see what they had first.

**EXAM SCHEDULE FOR ALL YEARS:**

**Monday**

8:00 – History of Magic

12:00 – Potions

**Tuesday**

8:00 – Transfiguration

12:00 – Alchemy

00:00 – Astronomy

**Wednesday**

8:00 – Care of magical creatures

12:00 – Charms

15:00 – Arithmancy

**Thursday**

8:00 – Division

12:00 – Defence against the Dark arts

15:00 – Muggle Studies

**Friday**

8:00 – Herbology

12:00 – Ancient Runes

15:00 - Flying

"At least if we pass our flying exam we don't have take it after Christmas break," Scorpius said with a smile looking at Albus' expression.

"True," Albus said. "No more Saturday classes."

Both boys put the schedule in their pockets and began to eat, munching on their jam covered toast while the owl post came in and started dropping letters everywhere. Once the owls were gone, Albus picked up the letter Pygmy left him and grinned as he saw it was from his father.

_Albus,_

_It was quite a shock to get your first letter, I have to admit. Though I am truly sorry for not responding, I didn't really know what to say. Also, of course it's okay if you bring your friend home over Christmas, I bet it will be wonderful._

_Can't wait to see you,_

_Your Father_

"You can come!" Albus cheered to Scorpius, jumping up and down in his seat, causing the bench the Gryffindors were sitting on to move. "Dad said it was okay!"

"Great!" Scorpius replied, just as excited. "I can't wait!"

"That's great and all, Al," Arthur raised an eyebrow at the two from next to Scorpius. "But can you refrain from jumping on the bench? We all sit on the same one you know!"

"Sorry Arty," Albus apologized with a sheepish grin as he forced himself to stay still and concentrate on eating his toast.

*****HS*****

"I have taught you dunderheads all that I can to prepare you for the exam on Monday," Snape said, the last potions class before exams. "I hope you all do well."

A course of 'thank you sirs' were heard from the room and then the bell rang, signaling the last day of school before exams. "Mr. Potter I would like a word," Snape said before everyone got out of their seats. Scorpius took his time getting his things together, making him and Albus the last ones in the room.

"I assure you, Mr. Malfoy," Snape started. "I am not going to hurt Mr. Potter."

Scorpius nodded, turning to Albus. "I'll wait outside the door for you."

Albus laughed but nodded nonetheless. When the blonde haired boy left the room Albus turned to his professor. "Yes sir?"

Snape sighed. "I'm not proud of what I have done, Mr. Potter."

Albus just looked at the man, confusion apparent on his face, but before he could say anything Snape continued. "I saved your father from those Muggles, but didn't alert him of my liveliness. I'm a known death eater, or ex-death eater."

"Why are you telling me this?" Albus asked, confused. Since the detention, Albus and Snape didn't talk about anything other than potions. Disappointed, but understanding, Albus didn't try to bring anything else up.

"Your father won't return my owls," Snape replied in a clipped tone. "And I was wondering if you would tell him I'm sorry."

Albus nodded. "I thought he would be over the moon to know you were back… He really admired you. I don't understand why he isn't returning your owls. I will tell him what you've said when I go home."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter." Snape bowed his head slightly. "And do tell your father that he is invited to Prince Manor for New Year's Day dinner; he and all of his family, of course."

"I'll make sure we're there, although Scor is coming home with me for the holiday's as well."

"Mr. Malfoy is more than welcome as well," Snape said, looking at the clock on the wall, "Now run along before he thinks I poisoned you or something."

Albus laughed but didn't make any attempt to answer Snape, taking his book bag and things and heading out the potions door to a very worried Scorpius.

"What was that about?" Scorpius asked as soon as he saw Albus come out of the potions classroom with small grin plastered on his face.

"Nothing," Albus said, noticing the blonde-haired boy was indeed worried, "Just family business."

"With Snape?" Scorpius looked startled, his eyes looked like they were budging out of his head.

Albus laughed. "Yeah. He took my father in many years ago."

Scorpius just looked at his best friend with a bemused expression that if Albus noticed, he ignored it. Instead, he walked towards the kitchens for something quick to grab, before he and Scorpius begun serious cramming for History of Magic and Potions exams that were in three days' time.

*****HS*****

"I swear I failed that exam," Perry exclaimed, coming out of their last exam, Flying. Madam Hooch had moved all the desks away so the students had enough room to fly because there was a horrible snow blizzard outside the castle. "Looks like it's more Saturday classes for me."

Alexander patted his brother on the back. "Hey, look on the bright side, we're going home tomorrow!"

Perry smiled a little at this, but it didn't raise his spirit all that much. Albus just looked at Scorpius as if to say _'how does one fail flying?'_ and Scorpius smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"Cheer up, Perry, it'll soon be Christmas!" Albus said with a wide grin expressed on his face, "Which reminds me, come on Scorp! We have to go get packed, Aunt Lyra refuses to let us come over on holidays if we forget something, so I'm assuming Uncle Charlie and Grandma Andy will be the same way."

Scorpius nodded his head. "Alright. You guys coming?" he asked Perry and Alexander, the former who just shook his head in the negative and mumbled something about needing chocolate and ice cream, which made Albus laugh and mumble, "He's such a girl," to Scorpius, making the other Gryffindor laugh as well. The two boys made their way up to the tower, surprisingly uninterrupted and packed as quickly as they could, both excited for the next three weeks and what was to come. Scorpius was nervous to meet_ the_ Harry Potter, which if he expressed to Albus he got the answer of, 'please, he's just my dad,' but that didn't make the older boy any less nervous.

Albus, on the other hand, was over the moon to have Scorpius stay over for three weeks. He never had a friend who wasn't a family member stay over before. His brother James and even his sister Lily had some friends outside of the family, but until Albus started Hogwarts, his best friend was his cousin, Arthur. _It's nice to have a friend out of the family_, Albus thought while putting the last articles in his trunk and closing it. Scorpius had already packed his trunk and was sitting on his bed watching Albus thoughtfully. Albus blinked when he realized this and tiled his head. "What?"

"Nothing," the other boy said, shrugging a shoulder. "Just thinking about the holidays."

Albus grinned. "You'll have a blast! We have two big parties in the span of a week! And we have our own Quidditch pitch, and our house is huge, well, maybe not as huge as your house but I bet its close! And we have turkey dinner, and-"

"Okay, Albus!" Scorpius said, cutting his friend off by putting his hands on his shoulders. "I get it, mate. I'll have fun; I know I will that wasn't what I was thinking about."

"Oh." Albus said, tilting his head and looking at his friend. "Well, what were you thinking about?"

"How I'm ever going to survive Rose's wrath if I score better on my exams than her," Scorpius said with a smirk, flopping down on his bed, taking his blanket and pillow and putting it in his trunk. Over the first four months of the school year, Scorpius and Rose had become enemies, Scorpius always doing better than she does, and Rose always trying to do better than him. Rose made it very clear to both Gryffindors that she wasn't pleased about their friendship or that Scorpius was staying with Albus for the holidays. Nevertheless, Albus assured Scorpius that he didn't care what his cousin thought of him, that he was welcome to stay.

"Don't worry about it," Albus said causally, putting a pair of boxers in his trunk. "We don't get our marks back until a few days after we'll be at my house, so it won't be that bad!"

"I hope."

*****HS*****

The next morning Albus and Scorpius were up early, which was a disadvantage because both boys were eager to get out of Hogwarts. They went down to the common room, which was unsurprisingly empty at the early hour, and played a game of chess with the school boards until it was time to go down for breakfast. Slowly but surely ten o'clock rolled around and it was time to get in the carriages to go to the Hogsmeade train station. Scorpius was quiet on the way to the train. Albus just looked at his friend and noticed he was staring at the horseless carriage.

"What are you looking at, Scor?" Albus asked, confused.

"Thestrals," Scorpius said quietly. "They're weird creatures."

"You can see them?" Albus blinked, surprised. "My dad said they're invisible."

Scorpius shrugged, knowing why he could see them. "Yeah, I can see them."

*****HS*****

As soon as they got on the train, Albus, Perry, and Alexander changed into muggle clothing and out of their school uniform while Scorpius sat down and started to read a muggle book. The train ride went quickly with not much happening; the boys played Exploding Snap and ate an excessive amount of candy. All four of them talked about their Flying exam marks, which they got earlier because of the list Madam Hooch had to make up for the following term. When the train came to a complete stop Albus noticed Scorpius had still had his robes on, but when the boy didn't seem to move to change Albus decided he would question him when they got home. All four boys got off the train with their trunks and animals and headed to their families.

"Bye Al! Bye Scorpius, have a good Christmas!" Perry yelled over his shoulder as he ran off to find his mum.

"He's excited to tell mum that he got an 'Acceptable' in his Flying exam," Alexander explained. "We'll see you guys after the break, have fun! And Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas!" Albus and Scorpius replied with a smile. Albus then took the other boys arm and dragged him towards the middle of Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"Hey Al! Over here!" Lily yelled when she seen her brother through the crowd.

Albus smiled at his sister, releasing Scorpius's arm, and gave her a hug. "Hey Lily."

Albus' father was looking around to see where the mysterious friend was when he laid eyes on Scorpius he found himself very surprised. Albus, sensing that Scorpius was spotted grinned a wide toothy grin. "Dad, mum, this is my best friend, Scorpius Malfoy."

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Hoiday<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; Jam_  
><em>_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	10. Can We Keep Him?

**Chapter Ten: **Can We Keep Him?

* * *

><p>"Malfoy?" Ginny asked, looking at the other boy with a curious expression. "You're friends with Draco Malfoy's son?"<p>

Albus shrugged. "So?"

"It's no big deal." Ginny said quietly, before speaking a little louder. "Nice to meet you, Scorpius dear."

"Hello Scorpius," Harry greeted smiling at the boy, "I'm Harry Potter."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter," Scorpius said formally, remembering his manners.

"Hi!" Lily said with a grin, "I'm Lily!"

Scorpius smiled, "Al told me he had a little sister," he said, taking out a bag of candy, "So I bought you some treats from the trolley."

Lily smiled and threw her arms around her brother's friend, "I like him! Can we keep him?"

The boys laughed and awkwardly followed the Potter's out of the platform.

*****HS*****

For Scorpius' amusement, and just for some fun, Albus asked his father if they could go home the Muggle way, and with his wife's prompting, Harry agreed.

"I thought you lived at number twelve?" Scorpius questioned as the cab stopped next to number eleven. Albus just laughed and dragged the boy in-between number eleven and thirteen.

"We do," Harry replied, standing next to the boys with both of their trunks. _"Aparecium."_

"What- Oh wow!" Scorpius exclaimed with a grin on his face as a house appeared between numbers eleven and thirteen.

Albus grinned. "Come on! I'll show you to our room!"

"Okay," Scorpius said, getting his wand and pointing to both his and Albus' trunks, shrinking them to a more manageable size causing everyone else, except Albus, to look at him in surprise.

"Scorpius," Harry said, after a few moments, "You do know that you're not supposed to use magic out of school, right?"

"Oh right," Scorpius said, turning to James. "Are you not allowed to use magic, then?"

"Uhm, no," James said, surprised that the younger boy was talking to him. "Dad says we'll get kicked out of Hogwarts."

Scorpius nodded. "Bummer. The Ministry doesn't know unless there are no adult wizards here, though."

James' face lit up. "Really?"

"Don't even think about it James Sirius Potter!" Ginny said looking at her oldest biological son.

"James, don't you dare." Harry warned him. "Scorpius, we wont allow you to do magic unless you allow you to do so. I won't allow you to get hurt in my home because you were playing with your wand."

Scorpius opened his mouth to protest, but a stern look from Ginny made him close his mouth and nod. "Yes sir."

"We have a few rules to go over, so you can go get settled and we'll have a family meeting in ten minutes."

*****HS*****

"Al, what's a family meeting?" Scorpius asked on their way up to Albus' room.

"Seriously?" Albus asked, looking at his best friend in surprise. "It's where the whole family, plus you tonight 'cause you're here, gets together and talk about stuff."

"Oh," Scorpius said, thoughtfully, looking around Albus' room. "I like the colours."

Albus laughed looking at his scarlet and gold walls. "Yeah, wanna help with that?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I can't. You're mum and dad banned me, remember?"

"Ah, right." Albus nodded.

*****HS*****

"Ginny, he's eleven."

"He is an exact copy of his father at that age."

"Scorpius is nothing like his father. Malfoy would never dare be in Gryffindor." Harry replied smoothly.

"Still, I'm afraid of what kind of deals they could suck Albus into."

"I-I can go to my grandmothers," Scorpius twisted his hands. "I don't mean any trouble."

"That-Ginny said glaring at the young boy.

"Ginny! That would not be necessary." Harry shot a look at his wife. "Scorpius, you're not any trouble, Ginny is just letting prejudice affect her decisions."

Scorpius nodded. "I understand, Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter. But I'm nothing like my father, grandfather, or even my sister. I believe nothing that normal purebloods believe and I am in no deals whatsoever that involve anything on the opposite side of the law."

"That's good to hear, Scorpius," Harry said with a smile. "Isn't it Ginny?"

"I-" Ginny sighed. "Can I talk to you in private, Harry?"

Harry paused before nodding. "Why don't you go find where Albus is, tell him to come to the living area."

Scorpius bobbed his head to show that he heard the thinly disguised order, and walked out of the room, his eyes slightly glazed over.

*****HS*****

_Sniff. Sniff._

"Scor?" Albus said quietly, lightly knocking on the bathroom door, "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine, Al," Scorpius said, sitting on the bathroom counter.

"Alohomora," Albus whispered, flicking his wand at the doorknob and slowly turning it, "Scor…"

"I'm fine," Scorpius said again, wiping the few tears off his face.

Albus shook his head and wrapped his arms around his best friend. "Mum's just mad because she's stupid."

Scorpius smiled a little. "Your reasoning is really helpful, Al."

Albus grinned. "I know. Come on, I bet I can race you to the living room."

*****HS*****

"I'm home!" a voice said from the fireplace in the study. "Mum? Dad? Al? James? Lily?"

"We're in the living area, Teddy," Ginny called, "Family meeting."

"Oh, okay," Teddy said, coming into the room and sitting in the love seat next to Lily. "What's up? Oh, hey baby Scor, what are you doing here?"

Scorpius glared at his cousin. "I am not a baby, Teddy."

"He's my friend," Albus supplied with a smile.

"Yeah," Scorpius said, grinning.

"Okay," Harry said interrupting the boys, "Since Scorpius is new to our family, we'll go over some basic rules. Rule one; No magic unless it's important, Teddy this does not include you as you're of age. I did not tell you of the fact that you can use magic when we are here for that reason, you don't have to use magic for everything. If you want to practice for school you ask me or your mother. Rule two; bedtime is no later than eleven, you can be in your rooms talking quietly until dawn for all I care, but you're in your rooms and in bed by eleven. Rule three; No being mean to Scorpius. He is part of the family this Christmas and we will welcome him. Rule four; your chores are as followed: each of you keep your rooms clean, Albus and Scorpius are on dish duty the first week and James and I the second, As Teddy and Lily do the dishes when you're not around, you can do them when you are. I also want homework done before the New Year's party. If you break any of the rules, especially the magic one, I will decide the proper punishment. Does anyone have any questions?"

"What counts as important towards magic?" James asked with a smile, excited that he could actually do magic outside of school.

"Life threatening situations, or if your brother or sister is hurt." Harry said with a hint of amusement. "Anything to add, Gin?"

"If I catch you doing magic-"

"Ginny! I already told them they are not allowed to do magic! Do you have anything to add that I haven't already said?" Harry asked. Ginny pressed her mouth shut and shook her head, but her eyes had a small bit of fury at Harry in them.

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized quietly.

"It isn't your fault, Scorpius."

"Okay."

*****HS*****

Later that night Albus and Scorpius were roaming the halls of Grimmauld Place, to Scorpius' request. He was taken with all the permanent sticking pictures the Blacks had on the walls, though to his disappointment none of them talked. They were almost done the tour of the place when they came upon a red curtain.

"What's behind here?" Scorpius asked, pulling the curtain open.

"No! Don-"

"Blood traitors! Filthy mudbloods! Half-breeds! Muggle-" The portrait of Walburga Black spieled. She stopped sprouting the horrible words as she noticed the blond boy standing in front of the picture. "You, boy! Are you related to Narcissa Malfoy?"

"She's my grandmother," Scorpius said with a smile, looking at the deceased Black woman.

"Oh well then," Walburga said, sizing Scorpius up, "I assume you're a pureblood, boy?"

"Yes," Scorpius said shaking his head, "but it doesn't matter to me."

"Mustn't," she corrected with a less menacing glare, "But you're here after all."

"You lost both of your sons to the Dark Lord and your own niece." Albus interrupted, "Haven't you learned anything?"

Walburga quieted down as Albus pulled the curtains back over her portrait.

*****HS*****

"Albus! Scorpius! Clean your room! Rose and Hugo are coming over to stay the night," Harry yelled up the stairway, Albus appeared in the hall with a frown.

"Why?"

"We're taking them shopping tomorrow," Harry stated simply.

"But we're getting our exam marks back tomorrow morning!" Albus exclaimed, hating that he was going to have to sit through his cousin's boasting.

"I thought you told me you got an O in your flying exam?" Harry asked with a tilt of his brow.

"I did," Albus said. "We got our flying marks back the last day of school. Something about doing up a list for next term, I don't know."

"Very well," Harry said. "I know you're not fond of Rose, Albus but she is coming over whether you like it or not."

Albus groaned and made his way to his room to clean for his unwanted visitors.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Fight Fire With Fire<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; meeting_  
><em>_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	11. You Can Trust Me

**Chapter Eleven:** You Can Trust Me

* * *

><p>"Boys! Lily! Rose and Hugo are here!" Ginny yelled up the stairs causing Albus and Scorpius to groan.<p>

"I hate her," Scorpius said with a shake of his head, "I mean I know that she's your cousin and all..."

Albus shook his head. "She used to be different, now she's just plain annoying." He looked down at the report in his hands and sighed, "Maybe she already opened her report?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I doubt it."

"Hi," Rose said coming into the room, "did you open your reports yet?"

Both boys shook their heads.

"Great let's do it together!" Rose said with fake excitement.

"I'll go first, I guess." Albus said with a shrug of his shoulders, opening the envelope and looking at the contents of what was inside. "Scor! I did it!" he exclaimed jumping at the other boy and wrapping his arms around his waist.

Scorpius laughed and hugged his friend back tightly. "I take it you did well?"

"All O's!" Albus said with a big grin on his face, "Can you believe it?"

Scorpius smiled at his best friend and began opening his envelope, "I'll go next, unless you want too?" he asked turning to Rose who shook her head. Scorpius looked at his marks with a wide grin on his face as well, "All O's."

Rose, was starting to get a little pissed off at the other two boys, how dare they get good marks? She ripped her envelope open to see that she had all O's as well, naturally, "Let's compare our percentages."

Albus, who had a feeling Scorpius did better than his cousin in marks, shook his head, "It doesn't matter, Rosie, what matters is we all got O's."

"Let's compare!" the girl pushed.

"Potions writing section, 132 percent," Scorpius said looking at his paper, "Practical section, full marks, 150 percent."

"I got 130 percent and 145 percent," Albus said looking at his paper as well, waiting for his cousin to blow up.

Rose glared at the other boys, "Next."

"DADA writing section, 140 percent," Scorpius said, not taking his eyes off his paper, not wanting to feel the wrath of the girl, "Practical, full marks, 150 percent."

"I got 142 percent," Albus said, surprised looking at his best friend, "But only 110 for practical."

They continued like this until they read out all of their marks, Scorpius getting full marks in all his practicals, and Albus even getting full marks in his Herbology, by the end of it the red headed girl was fuming, "You did better than me!" she screamed, glaring at the other boys.

"Even me?" Albus asked, a smile creeping up on his face as the girl nodded. Truthfully Albus and Scorpius couldn't be happier to beat Rose in their exams, but when the other girl started screaming at them, they had to run into Albus' room and lock the door just to get away from her.

*****HS*****

At supper that night Rose and Hugo's father apparated into the kitchen just after they started to eat.

"You brought Scorpius Malfoy home?" Albus's Uncle Ron exclaimed, "Of all the people, Albus it had to be bloody Malfoy's kid?"

"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed, appearing next to him, "It is Harry's decision who he lets into his house! I agree it is quite a shock that Albus has befriended Scorpius, but you will not let your prejudices come between them!"

"I told him, daddy!" said Rose, both ignoring her mother and looking smugly at Albus and Scorpius, "I told him that it was a bad idea to befriend the enemy! And that his parents were supporters of you-know-who and that they performed Dark Arts and all that! I told Al he was bad news! A good for nothing Death Eater!"

"Good Gir-"

"Don't you dare praise her on that, Ron!" Hermione shouted, outraged at her husband and her daughter, "And you!" she said, turning to Rose, "Apologise to Scorpius and Albus, Rose Ginerva Weasley! You know better than to judge people, I thought we taught you better than that! You are grounded for the whole holiday! No staying up late! No owls! No computer! No books! No Christmas Eve presents! No staying up for the countdown! No fun!"

"But mum-" Rose started but Hermione cut her off, "No buts Rose!"

Rose huffed and stormed out of the room, the only thing the children and adults heard was Lily's bedroom door slam shut with a bang causing a fuming Hermione to chase after her daughter.

"She's in for it now," Albus said with a grin causing Scorpius to snort at his best friend's eagerness.

*****HS*****

"Rose Weasley unlock this door right now!" Hermione said angrily outside of Lily's bedroom.

"No!" Rose said, "I shouldn't be punished for doing the right thing!"

"Alohomora," Hermione said waving her hand at the door, "Rose, just because Scorpius' parents were Death Eaters doesn't mean he will be."

"But he's evil!" Rose said with a frown, "Mum, I was supposed to be the smartest... But even Albus got higher than me on his exams!"

Hermione smiled, "That's what this is about? How much did you study for your exams, Rosie?"

Rose frowned, "I didn't. I'm the smartest! I don't need to study!"

Hermione shook her head, "Yes you do Rose, you can't expect to go better than your cousin if he is studying hard and you're not."

Rose nodded, "I guess... Are you going to spank me?"

"Yes," Hermione said, "Your behaviour was unacceptable, Rose."

Rose nodded and lay over her mother's lap. She felt her mother pull her pants and underwear down as she fought her tears. When Rose was younger time outs wouldn't work with her stubborn personality so her mother would give her a few spanks to punish her, she was far from abusive, and Rose understood that. Her tears started as she felt her mother give her the first spank, by the time she had reached eleven Rose was crying freely. She felt the cooling charm on her bottom and slowly got up.

"What did you learn, Rose?" Hermione said, trying to keep her cool.

"I shouldn't judge people by their families," Rose said, wiping her eyes.

"And?"

"I have to study if I wish to do better than Albus and Scorpius."

Hermione smiled and pulled her daughter into her arms, "Good girl, I love you so much."

"I know," Rose said, leaning into her mother's embrace, "I'm sorry I was so rude."

"I'm not the one you have to apologize to, Rosie," Hermione said, standing up, "When you're ready, come downstairs and apologize to Albus and Scorpius, then we will go home."

Rose frowned, "But we're going shopping tomorrow!"

"I know," Hermione said sternly, "You will go with your father and I."

Rose groaned as her mother left the room. _This is all his fault_, she thought as she made her way down the stairs to make an insincere apology. _Look out Scorpius Malfoy; it's on!_

*****HS*****

"Now remember, you are to stay in the barrier of Diagon alley, and we'll meet back at Gringotts at twelve." Harry said to Albus, Scorpius, James, and Teddy. Once Teddy turned eleven they had let him go buy his Christmas presents himself, and it turned into a type of tradition that the rest if the children looked forward too.

All the boys nodded and went off in different directions, Albus and Scorpius headed towards Quality Quidditch Supplies to buy their first gifts.

"Do you think your brother will like these?" Scorpius asked holding up a pair of gloves.

"Which one? James will love them; Teddy already has a bunch of pairs... I'm getting him this book on all the different plays you can make, it can be from both of us if you want," Albus said showing him the thick book, Scorpius nodded and they went on their way getting presents for all of Albus' family and all of Scorpius' family.

*****HS*****

"Hurry up, Scor we have to go meet the others soon," Albus said next to the changing room door Scorpius was behind. The boys were at their last stop, getting shirts for the formal dinner the Potter-Weasley's had every year on the twenty-third.

"I know, I'm just a little... Stuck," Scorpius said as he tried to get the buttons done up on his shirt.

Albus laughed and opened the dressing room door, "Here, let me help."

Scorpius blushed and turned to face Albus, his exposed scarred and abused chest showing. Albus put his hand on Scorpius' chest and gasped, "Scorpius, where did all these cuts and scars come from?"

"M-my sister," Scorpius lied; he couldn't tell Albus the truth. No matter if he wanted to or not, if his mother ever found out that he told someone, he didn't even want to think about that again...

_"Do you think I abuse you, Scorpius?" Astoria Malfoy asked looking at her only son, "Your grandmother asked me that today, what did you tell her?"_

_"I-I didn't say anything mother! I promise! She saw my back and started asking questions... I swear I never told her! I told her I was playing with Bella in the yard and she pushed me into the thorn bushes!" Nine-year-old Scorpius said, fear evident in his trembling voice._

_"Crucio!" Astoria screamed holding the curse on her son for a solid minute, laughing at the way he was screaming and twitching on the floor..._

"I don't believe that, Scor. It was your mum, wasn't it?"

Scorpius shook his head aggressively and started to cry. "No!"

Albus pulled his friend into a tight embrace, rubbing his back in effort to calm the crying boy. "I won't tell anyone," he whispered, "You can trust me."

Scorpius nodded into Albus' chest and just let go, all of the years his mother had been abusing him, he kept it from everyone. He held onto Albus like his life depended on it and just cried until he couldn't cry anymore.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Suspicion<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; cry_  
><em>_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	12. Unhealable

**Chapter Twelve: **Unhealable

* * *

><p>"Al! Scor! It's time to go home! Mummy and daddy said you have ten minutes or they're sending a patronus in!" Lily called from outside the dressing rooms.<p>

"Dad must have sent a search charm," Albus said as Scorpius got up and looked at Albus' chest in horror. Where his head had been was a huge wet spot. "It's fine, Scor." Albus reassured with a nod, not caring that he had to buy two shirts. Both boys got re-dressed and brought the shirts to the cashier.

"I found this top like this," Albus lied showing the man the tear stained shirt, "How much do you want for it?"

"Free sir!" The man squeaked, intimated obviously believing Albus' lie. The man looked much like a mouse; small ears with a very pointing nose and beady eyes, which made Scorpius have to hold in a giggle.

Albus smirked and took Scorpius' shirt and put his and Scorpius' on the counter, "Okay great; I'll have these three tops than." Scorpius was about to disapprove of Albus buying his shirt (which was just like his parents buying it.) But Albus would not hear of it. Once the shirts were paid for both of them left the shop and met up with the others who were waiting outside the store.

*****HS*****

The following night at dinner, while everyone was eating chicken and potatoes, Scorpius made a surprising proposal, "My grandmother would like me to pass along an invitation to our annual Christmas party tomorrow to your whole family, Mr. Potter."

"What?" Ginny asked in horror, "Narcissa Malfoy wants us to go to Malfoy Manor?"

"Black," Scorpius corrected. "Her last name is Black."

"I'll go!" Lily beamed beside him, earning a glare from her mother which didn't faze her much.

"You will do no such thing!" Ginny snapped, glaring at Scorpius.

Lily frowned, "Daddy, I wanna go!"

"I don't see any reason that you can't go. As long as you're back by supper on the twenty third." Harry said with a smile, "tell your grandmother that Lily and Albus will be accompanying you, I'm afraid that I have other plans."

*****HS*****

"What happens on the twenty third?" Scorpius asked Albus after dinner, both boys were sitting on Albus' bed.

"The government people come over," Albus said with a roll of his eyes, "That's why we needed formal shirts. We have to sit through a dinner with my family and Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alicia Spinnet, Susan Bones, and my grandfather. They talk about boring stuff that we just pretend to listen to then when we are excused we can go do whatever we want as long as we don't disturb them."

"Who came up with those rules?" Scorpius asked with a shake of his head, obviously not liking the fact that he'd have to sit through a boring dinner.

"It was my father's idea," Albus said with a shake of his head, "That heads of the important positions in the Ministry come together once a year, why they chose the day before Christmas Eve is beyond me."

Scorpius giggled and pulled out his level three potions book, causing Albus to roll his eyes at his best friend, "You know you're crazy, right?"

"Yup!" Scorpius relied with a smile and both boys fell into a comfortable silence.

*****HS*****

"Hey Scor," Lily said coming into Albus' room that night, "Where's Al?"

"In the shower," Scorpius said, looking at the young girl over his book, "Did you have fun shopping today?"

"It was okay," Lily said, making a face, "I had to stay with mum and dad, and they stop and talk to everybody."

Scorpius laughed, "That sucks."

Lily nodded, "Uh huh. Anyway, I just came in to say goodnight. So, night."

"Night Lily," Scorpius said with a smile. Once she left the room he got up and started getting ready for bed. He thought about the day's events and sighed, Albus knew everything. He felt tears building up in his eyes and silently started to cry.

_'Stop your crying Scorpius Malfoy! You are useless in everything you do aren't you? I'm ashamed to call you my son! You disgrace the Malfoy name!'_He heard his mother saying in his head, which just made the tears flow faster. He dropped his bag to the floor causing his things to fall out everywhere, including his father's razor that he had taken a few months prior.

Scorpius sniffled and picked the sharp object up, taking it out of its case and pressing it to his skin. Blood came rushing out of the wound and Scorpius couldn't help but feel relieved. With his tears still streaming down his face, blurring his vision he put the blade back on his wrist and continued pressing it against his skin. It wasn't until his whole arm was red that he stopped and finally snapped out if his trance. Shit! He inwardly cursed, what the hell did I just do?

"S-Scor?" Albus stuttered, looking at his best friend in shock, he quickly closed and locked the door and went over to his friend. "What? Why? How?"

Scorpius just shook his head, how could he explain to Albus what he didn't even understand himself? "I-I was u-upset... And I-I saw my father's razor in my trunk... I took it because I wanted it in case I needed to start shaving, you know? And..."

By this time Albus had one of his old t-shirts wrapped around Scorpius' arm, applying pressure to the wounds. It's a good thing my aunts a healer, he thought to himself, otherwise I'd have no clue what to do. "And what?"

"I pressed it against my arm," Scorpius said, holding back tears of shame.

"But why?" Albus asked, pulling the other boy into a tight embrace, "Why did you hurt yourself, Scor?"

"I-it felt g-good," Scorpius said with a frown, "I don't understand."

Albus just nodded and looked at his arm, "The bleedings stopped, do you want me to get someone to heal it?"

Scorpius shook his head, "I'm unhealable..."

"What?"

"M-my mum... She put a curse on me... So my wounds heal the muggle way." Scorpius said quietly, not looking Albus in the eye.

"That bitch!" Albus said disgusted, which earned him a look from Scorpius, "What? Just because I don't swear doesn't mean I don't know swear words, I do have two older brothers."

Scorpius giggled, causing Albus to smile, "Come on, let's get ready for bed... I think we have some gauze in the medicine cabinet, don't look at me like that, my dad was raised by Muggles, he believes we shouldn't use magic all the time. Sit tight, I'll be right back."

Scorpius just nodded, curling himself into a ball on the floor. What was going on? He thought to himself; I'm eleven years old for Pete's sake!

Albus managed to get to the bathroom without anyone noticing, he grabbed gauze and peroxide and quietly made his way back to his room. What he found when he got there broke his heart, Scorpius was curled up in a ball shaking and sobbing. Albus sighed as he went over to the other boy and quietly cleaned and dressed his wounds, frowning when Scorpius' sobs got harder when he put the peroxide on his arm. When he was done both boys got in bed, Albus' arms wrapped tightly around Scorpius. He had always been a loving and affectionate person, so the fact that he was cuddling with his best friend when he was upset didn't faze him at all.

*****HS*****

"What do you think I should do, Gin?" Harry asked for the umpteenth time, holding a piece of parchment in his hands.

"I don't know, Harry." Ginny said with a sigh, fed up of Harry asking her. "If you want to go, go."

"He's alive Gin!" Harry exclaimed, "And he waited for me to hear about it from my eleven year old son, nineteen years later!"

"Harry, he's your father," Ginny said with a frown, "There has got to be some reason he didn't tell you."

"You're right," Harry said quietly looking at the parchment that he had read a million times that day.

_Harry,_

_I cannot begin to explain why I kept myself being alive from you. I'm sorry, Son. I'd like to explain in person, so I'm inviting you, and your family, to New Year's day brunch so we can talk. I look forward to meeting your two children I have not yet met._

_I hope you will consider_

_Your stupid git of a father,_

_Severus_

*****HS*****

The next morning just before Albus, Scorpius, and Lily were to go to Malfoy Manor, Albus knocked on his father's study door, determined to persuade his father to go to Prince Manor for New Year's day dinner.

"Come in," Harry said from the other side of the door, Albus went in and sat across from his father, who was sitting at his desk doing paperwork.

"Hey dad, can I talk to you?" Albus asked, trying to remain confident.

Harry nodded and put the papers he was working on to the side, "What is it, son?"

"I want to know why you haven't written back to Professor Snape," Albus said in his best confident voice, "And I wanted to tell you that we're going to Prince Manor for New Year's dinner."

Harry looked at his youngest son in shock, since when was his son so confident? He just stared at him for a minute before replying; "Very well."

Albus looked at his father with confusion in his eyes, _was it really that easy?_ He thought. "Seriously?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, Albus. Severus sent me the invitation a while ago and I was thinking about it… If you really want to go, we can."

Albus grinned. "So you're going to make up with Professor Snape?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, Albus, now run along to Malfoy Manor."

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Potato<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; son_  
><em>_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	13. Malfoy Manor

**Chapter Thirteen:** Malfoy Manor

* * *

><p>"SCOR'S HERE! SCOR'S HERE!" Naomi shouted when the fireplace in the den roared alive and Scorpius, Albus, and Lily appeared through it, "AND HE BROUGHT GUESTS!"<p>

"Calm down, Naos," Scorpius said, picking his little sister up in a bear hug, "This is my friend Albus and his little sister Lily."

"HI!" Naomi said jumping up and down once Scorpius let her down, "I remember you from the platform!"

"Hi," Lily said with a smile. "I remember you too! You're Naomi!"

"And you're Lily!" Naomi said in a burst of giggles.

"Hello children," Narcissa said, coming into the living area, "I'm Scorpius's grandmother, Narcissa."

"Hello Miss Black," Albus said with a smile, extending his hand, Narcissa smiled and shook his hand; "I'm Albus Potter."

"I'm Lily!" Lily said with a smile looking at the old witch, "And you're Grandma Andy's sister, right?"

"Yes," Narcissa said with a smile, "Why don't you come to the kitchen where everyone else is? We're about to start a gingerbread making contest."

*****HS*****

After the gingerbread contest was over, and the 'judges' were judging, Scorpius took Albus upstairs to his bedroom.

"Wow," Albus said, amazed looking around the green and sliver room. Everything was so neat and tidy, far from Albus' room's cluttered mess. Albus went over to Scorpius' desk and picked up a large dictionary that had a bookmark somewhere in the middle of it. "You weren't kidding about learning the dictionary, were you?"

"Nope," Scorpius said with a shrug, clearly unfazed about it. "I like learning big words anyway, it isn't so bad."

Albus nodded, continuing to look around Scorpius' room. The walls held a few Quidditch posters and on the dresser was pictures of him and Naomi, there was even one of them with Bella. The pictures seemed to all be taken at the same time and neither of them looked very old. Scorpius had Naomi on his back and the toddler was leaning back into Bella causing the older girl to grab her and spin in circles. They all looked so happy.

"That was taken when my dad didn't travel, dad could calm her down really easy and he was always around," Scorpius said looking at the pictures with a frown, "Naomi won't remember a time when mum was actually nice, she was only two."

"What happened to make her not so nice?" Albus asked curiously.

"Her sister got out of Azkaban," Scorpius spat, clearly showing his dislike for his aunt. "Daphne Greengrass is twenty times worse than my mother, and she had to live with her growing up."

Albus just looked at Scorpius in shock, he had seen the scars on Scorpius' body, he couldn't imagine someone being crueller than that, didn't want to imagine it. He simply couldn't.

*****HS*****

A few hours later, after everyone had their stomachs full of gingerbread; they all had some hot cocoa and sat around the fire in the living area, listening to the adults talk about Christmas at their age.

"I remember Dora and I used to be up at the crack of dawn," Lyra said with a sad smile, "we'd go in our mother's and father's room and jump on them laughing our heads off."

"Now Hannah and Alisha do that," Albus grinned, causing Lyra to laugh and nod.

"Did you ever see your biological father?" Scorpius asked with a tilt of his head, he was sitting on the floor in-between Albus and Lily, with Naomi in his lap.

"Yes," Lyra said coldly, "When mum and dad went on the run, I stayed with him and your father at Malfoy Manor."

"Did you take the mark?" Albus asked, after the war all the people with the Dark Mark kept glamour charms up so it was possible that his aunt could have it and he not notice.

"No," Lyra said with a smile. "Cissa saw that I didn't have to."

"Enough talk about the war," Narcissa said with a smile of her own. "Who wants to hear about the time Andy, Bella, and I almost got stuck in the library?"

Everyone laughed and then stayed silent while Narcissa told the story of her and her sisters. They continued like this until late into the night when they finally went to bed.

*****HS*****

"How's your arm?" Albus asked as Scorpius got in bed which was the only time he ever had a long sleeve off.

"Alright," Scorpius said with a shrug, "Starting to get itchy now, but I'm used to things like that."

Albus shook his head and put a protective arm around his friend, "What was Christmas like here when you were growing up?"

"Horrible," Scorpius said, leaning into him, "Completely horrible..."

Seven-year-old Scorpius got out of bed and went straight to his little sisters room, the three-year-old had a tendency to wake up in the early morning and make a racket, something that his mother was not fond of. It didn't matter when Scorpius' father, Draco was home, as he would go see what Naomi wanted, but as his father was away on a business trip for another week, Scorpius had no other choice than to get up early with his baby sister.

"Stor!" the three-year-old giggled happily, "Stor! Stor! Stor!"

"Shh," Scorpius said, picking the toddler up, "Morning Hydra."

"Me Now-me!" Naomi said confidently, "Me no Hi-dree, me Now-me!"

"I know," Scorpius whispered, bringing his sister into his room, "But when Mama is home, you're Hydra."

"Me no like," the young girl pouted, "Dada call me Now-Me!"

"Yes, honey," Scorpius said, lying down on the bed, "But Dada isn't home yet."

"But it 'trismis! Me get presies!" Naomi said, crossing her arms and pouting even more causing her older brother to laugh.

"Yes it is," Scorpius said with a smile, "But we have to sleep a little bit more first."

"No fun!" Naomi whined, "Me want toys!"

"You'll get them later," Scorpius whispered as he started to sing a lullaby and before he knew it, both of them were fast asleep

*****HS*****

"Crucio!" Astoria yelled holding a nine year old Scorpius under the curse for thirty seconds, laughing at the way his body twitched and his voice screamed out for her to stop. Panting and in pain, he slowly sat up just to be pushed back down by his mother's foot, "That was for not being thankful for the gifts your father and I got you, you think you have this house in your control don't you? Well I assure you, you do not! Do I have to punish all of you, or are you going to keep that little bitch of a sister of yours in line? I'm not afraid to give her some time under the Cruciatus, little boy."

"No," Scorpius panted, "Please, I'll try harder!"

"You better," she threatened, leaving the cellar like nothing even happened.

"Scor..." Albus said with a frown, "How many times has she used that curse on you?"

"Maybe five or six," Scorpius said, shuddering from the memory, "Usually she punishes me the muggle way, because I'm a disgrace to the Malfoy name so I should be treated like a useless Muggle."

Albus shook his head and pulled his best friend into a much needed hug and soon after, they were asleep.

*****HS*****

"Lily," the young girl said as the redhead climbed in next to her, "Do you believe in monsters?"

Lily looked at Naomi in confusion; of course she believed in monsters, they were the most scariest thing in the world! "What do you mean?" She asked quietly, although she believed in monsters, she knew better than to tell a seven year old that.

Naomi was quiet for a minute, thinking of how to put her words, "Like... Humans, but monsters."

Lily laughed, "that doesn't make any since, Naomi."

"I know," the young girl replied, "Like Lord Voldemort... Do you think he was a monster?"

"Yes," Lily replied without pause.

"So what makes a person a monster?" The young girl asked, her baby blue eyes looking at Lily with confusion.

"I don't know," Lily replied, "when they do really bad things, I guess."

Naomi nodded and snuggled under the blanket, thinking about the monsters in her life.

*****HS*****

"Scorpius!" Albus shouted shaking the screaming boy. Albus woke up when Scorpius started thrashing around in the bed, clearly having a bad dream. He jolted awake, gasping for breath and clearly very shaken.

"You okay?" Albus asked passing him a glass of water from the nightstand by the bed.

Scorpius took the water and drank it all in one go. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"What were you dreaming?" Albus asked, lying back on the bed and looking at his friend.

Scorpius thought for a minute and shrugged, he couldn't remember. Albus nodded pulling the blonde into his chest tightly for a well needed hug.

"I'll be back in a minute," Scorpius whispered rising from the bed and heading for the bathroom. The young boy was completely out of breath and just staring at his reflection in the mirror before he really understood what he was doing he punched the mirror and it broken into many pieces. Scorpius' knuckles, hand, and wrist was full of blood and glass shards and the pain was just starting to numb him.

However, what he failed to realize was his strength slipping away; and he never noticed it until he fell to the floor in a swoon.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; On the floor<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; Scorpius _  
><em>_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	14. Unfortunate Circumstances

**Chapter Fourteen:** Unfortunate Circumstances

* * *

><p>Scorpius woke up three hours later with a worried looking Albus staring at him. His face was tear stained and he looked about as good as Scorpius felt.<p>

"What happened?" Scorpius whispered, slowly sitting up. His head was pounding and his vision was blurry.

"Careful," Albus said while lightly pushing him back down on the bed, "You punched the mirror then passed out."

"What? How?" Scorpius asked, just noticing his hand was bandaged.

"You woke up from a nightmare and went to the bathroom..."

_Smash._

_Albus hurried out of Scorpius' room and into the bathroom across the hall almost screaming when he saw Scorpius on the floor with glass and blood everywhere. Thinking quickly he checked the cabinet behind the mirror, finding various potions. 'Thank god they were labelled'. He thought grabbing a blood-replenishing potion, a blood-clotting potion, and a vanishing potion. "Wingardium leviosa," he whispered confidently and Scorpius levitated in the air. Albus brought him to his room and gently laid him on the bed. He noticed Scorpius' advanced Potions book on his bookshelf and for once thanked Merlin Scorpius had advanced books. He quickly opened the book to the first aid section and read the information he needed._

_Blood-replenishing potion: Do not mix with any sleeping potions, recommend dosage for unconscious person is one bottle every hour, when consciousness is regained give one more bottle. If blood continues to be lost, seek professional help._

_Blood-clotting potion: recommended to take with blood replenishing potion, do not mix with blood thinning potion. Recommended to take every hour until bleeding stops._

_Vanishing Potion: used to clean wounds free of dirt or other harmful substances. Take once and if wound is still unclean, take again after twenty minutes. Take before using a blood-clotting potion to avoid infection._

_Carefully he brought the vanishing potion towards Scorpius lips, lightly opening his mouth and pouring it in. He rubbed his throat to help the liquid go down and waited until the glass was pushed out of the wounds to give him the other two potions. Once Scorpius had the potions, Albus went to the bathroom and cleaned up the glass. He was moving almost like a robot, doing everything automatically. When he got back to Scorpius, the events hit him and he began to cry._

"Why didn't you get an adult?" Scorpius asked shuddering at the mere thought.

"I told you that you could trust me, remember?" Albus answered with a shrug, truthfully, he wanted to go and get an adult, or at least his older brother, but he was Harry Potter's son, after all.

"Thank you," Scorpius said with a smile turning on his side so Albus could lie down as well. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Albus shrugged and lay next to his friend. "I can guess," he said and after a few minutes, both boys were asleep.

*****HS*****

"Bye Lily!" Naomi said with an over enthusiastic wave. Everyone laughed at her, which caused her to pout perfectly enough for them to stop. The two boys and Lily gave her and Narcissa a goodbye hug.

"It was lovely meeting you Miss Black," Albus said with a smile causing the old women to laugh.

"You're such a charmer, Mr Potter," she said with a smile lightly pushing them towards the Floo, "Goodbye children. Happy Christmas."

"Bye! Happy Christmas!" The three kids said as the fireplace roared to life and sent them in a spiralling fashion back to Grimmauld Place.

*****HS*****

"I hate these clothes."

Albus giggled, "So do I, believe me, if I could get away with it, I'd stay in my room all night."

Scorpius smirked and both boys went downstairs to the supper table.

"Scorpius," Harry said promptly. "This is Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic… Alicia Spinnet, the head of the Daily Prophet, Susan Bones, the head of the Childrens Pre-Hogwarts Learning, and Arthur Weasley, the head of the Muggle to Wizard protection department."

"Hullo," Scorpius said politely. He took a seat across from Alicia, and next to Albus. While they were waiting for the meal to arrive, they made small talk with the adults. By the time James, Lily, and Teddy were down the meal arrived and each of the kids ate in silence, listening to the adults talk about various thing in the Ministry.

"I think the children would benefit the most with a new place," Susan said pointedly. "They're getting sick of the old one, especially the ones that have been there since they were a year old."

"I agree with Susan," Harry said with a nod. "Lily is always complaining about having to go to the same place day in, day out."

"Not that this conversation isn't the most wonderful thing I've ever heard or anything," Lily said with a sly smile. "After all a new day care would be wonderful… but, can I be excused?"

"Lily!" Harry said with a glare. "Don't be rude… But yes, you are all excused."

Albus and Scorpius stood up and practically bolted to Albus' room and got started on their homework.

"I don't understand why they give us so much homework," Albus complained, looking at the four essays he had to write. "It's so boring!"

"I know," Scorpius said, making a face, "It's like they want to torture us by sending us into a dark cloud of topics that are obviously going to make us die of boredom."

Albus giggled, "We should have them done in a few hours if we stop procrastinating."

Scorpius nodded with a smile and the two boys started on their homework. They were done before they expected, and surprisingly Albus was done before Scorpius, quietly sitting on his bed poking at some kind of Muggle machine.

"What's that?" Scorpius asked while he was putting his books away.

"An iPad, sixth generation," Albus said, laughing at his friends confused expression, "It's like a computer, you can search the Internet and play games and stuff."

Scorpius nodded, "You sure have a lot of Muggle toys."

Albus grinned, "Yeah, I love them. Our Uncle Dudley is a Muggle, so Dad has a bunch of Muggle things to make him feel more at home. Plus, they're cool and fun. Who says you can't be both?"

"If you have magical powers, you're not a Muggle, Al." Scorpius said with a smile, "What other contraptions do you own?"

"There's a television in the basement," Albus said with a smile, "Along with a bunch of video games and movies and such. We still have an hour or so until we have to sleep, wanna check it out?"

Scorpius nodded eagerly, Albus' contraption did look really fun. He followed Albus down into the basement and Scorpius was amazed by the huge room. There was a couch and two love seats a few feet away from a black rectangle box type thing, which had more black box type things under it. But behind the couches there was four table type things set up, that looked like some kind of game, and above that on a shelf were a bunch of board games. There was also a bookshelf filled with cases of some sort. Scorpius was used to having money, being a Malfoy and all, but he couldn't help be jealous of all the toys Albus and his siblings had to play with, even if he didn't have a clue what they were.

"The thing on the wall is a television; under it on the shelf is the satellite, a Wii, a PlayStation 6, an Xbox 666, and a bag with all my cords, and our 3DS'." Albus explained trying to keep his laughter in at the lost look on his friends face. "I'll show you." He said with a smile and he went over what everything in the room was bit by bit. When everything was explained, they played Dance Dance Revolution 6 until it was time for bed.

*****HS*****

"Boys! Lily! Your rooms better be clean!" Ginny yelled up the stairs the morning of the 24th. Scorpius, who was reading a book, just looked at Albus with a weird expression, "How many times do you have to clean your room in a week?"

Albus laughed. "She's only saying that because my cousins, aunts, and uncles are coming over soon. James, Lily, and Teddy have to share their rooms with some of my cousins."

"Why do you have to share?" Scorpius asked, not quite understanding the quantity of Albus' rather large family, "There's like ten spare rooms!"

Albus smirked."Nine actually, eight of them are reserved for my aunts and uncles and the other is where the littler kids sleep."

"How many family members do you have exactly?" Scorpius asked, eyes bulging out of his head.

"You'll see," Albus said with a smirk enjoying the look of horror on Scorpius' face. "Let's just say there are enough of us."

Scorpius looked at Albus with a smile, _that sounds like the understatement of the century_ he thought as they both went to tidy up Albus' room for the second time that week.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Stood Up<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; is_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_


	15. Meeting The Family

**Chapter Fifteen:** Meeting The Family

* * *

><p>"Albus, you're on door duty!" Ginny said, running around the kitchen trying to get everything ready for when everyone got there. Albus just dragged Scorpius towards the living area, and stood next to the front door.<p>

"Hey Albus, Scorpius," Charlie said with a smile, coming in the house with two bags filled with presents, obviously charmed to be bigger on the inside.

"Hey Uncle Charlie," both boys said at the same time, giggling when they realized it. Nymphadora ran off to find Lily, ignoring both her cousins and Arthur gave both of them a hug. Lyra, on the other hand looked at both boys for a second and then pulled both of them into a giant bear hug.

"Nice to see you too Aunt Lyra," Scorpius said through his giggles. The tall black haired woman just smiled at them and went to the kitchen.

Neville and his wife Luna were next to arrive with their seven kids in tow. Scorpius knew Lorcan, Lysander, Alice, Frank, and Abigail from when they used to go to Malfoy manor to play with him and Naomi; but he never seen the twins before. Neville and Luna had a set of twin girls, who were only eighteen months old.

"Hello Scorpius, Albus," Neville greeted with a smile, holding both of his twin daughters. Both boys greeted the Longbottom's and continued to watch the door.

Next to arrive was Albus' Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey with their twin girls, Molly and Lucy.

Bill and Fleur were the next to arrive with two of their children. "Scorpius, this is my Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur, and they're kids, Victorie and Louis." Albus said with a smile. "Where's Domi?" Albus asked his uncle, looking for his other cousin.

"She's coming with Roxy," Bill replied with a grin. "So this is Scorpius Malfoy, huh?"

"I should've known," Albus said with a laugh, noticing how confused Scorpius was Albus turned to him. "Dominique is Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's middle child, she's best friends with my other cousin Roxanne who's Uncle George and Aunt Angelina's daughter. They've been inseparable ever since I can remember, actually."

"So this is Scorpius Malfoy, huh?" Bill asked.

"Yes, this is my best friend, Scorpius," Albus said with a grin.

"He's beautiful," Fleur said causing Albus to burst out laughing and Scorpius to blush crimson.

George, Angelina, and their kids weren't far behind Bill and Fleur as Albus opened the door for them he smiled at the huge box of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products his Uncle George was holding. "Uncle George owns the shop," Albus explained to Scorpius. "And that's Roxanne, Dominique, and Fred."

Albus' grandma and grandpa Weasley arrived at the same time as Dudley and Cho and Albus let them all in with a huge smile. "Scor, this is my grandmother and grandfather, My Uncle Dudley and Aunt Cho, and my cousins Harry, Cedric, Alicia, and Tally."

Scorpius bid them all a hello, noticing that Albus' grandfather wasn't too happy that his grandson was friends with him, but nevertheless, he was expecting that.

Not surprisingly, the last ones to arrive were Ron and Hermione, as soon as Albus saw his uncle he cringed.

"So this is the Malfoy spawn," he muttered when he got in the house earning a slap from Albus' Aunt Hermione. Albus and Scorpius both ignored the older man as they closed the door for the final time and joined everyone in the living area.

After a while, Scorpius was feeling very intimidated, the only members of Albus' rather large family that really didn't make him feel welcome was his grandfather and his Uncle Ron; nevertheless Scorpius still wasn't comfortable in front of all these different people. As soon as he could; he escaped to Albus' bedroom only to find a strawberry blonde haired girl curled in a ball on his bed.

"Hi," Scorpius said after a while, "I'm Scorpius."

"Molly," the young girl replied looking at Scorpius with a curious expression, "Do you have anxiety too?"

"I don't think so," Scorpius replied with a shrug of his shoulders, sitting next to Molly on the bed. "I'm just not used to being around a lot of people."

"Oh," Molly said with a frown. Noticing the extra trunk in Albus' room for the first time, "Are you the boy Albus took home? My mummy says she knew your mummy. She didn't like my mummy very much."

"Don't worry too much about it," Scorpius said with a shrug awkwardly patting the young girl on the shoulder, "I'm not like my mummy; and she doesn't like anyone."

Molly tilted her head. "What about your daddy?"

"I guess she likes him," Scorpius said, pretending to be very thoughtful, "Or maybe not."

Molly giggled, "I like you. You're funny."

"Thanks," Scorpius smiled and the two of them sat in a comfortable silence both too taken up with what was inside their heads. For Scorpius; he wasn't sure what his dominant thoughts were; all he knew was there was a house full of strangers that didn't particularly like him. So he was very content with staying in Albus' room with Molly.

"Mol, where are you?" A voice asked coming up the stairs next to Albus' room.

"That's my sister, Lucy," Molly explained to Scorpius with a frown, "She's gunna make me go downstairs."

"There you are," Lucy said, coming into Albus room with a frown on her face. Her strawberry blonde hair fell down to her shoulders. "Come on, let's go downstairs."

Molly shook her head in the negative, glaring at her twin sister. Lucy sighed and decided to finally acknowledge Scorpius, who was just awkwardly sitting there.

"Who are you?" Lucy snapped, crossing her arms across her chest attempting to look intimidating. Scorpius thought the attempt would've been a lot more successful if she wasn't a good foot shorter than Scorpius.

"Albus' friend, Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius answered, not skipping a beat. "Who're you?"

"Her twin sister, Lucy Weasley," Lucy said, crossing her arms. "Come on Mol, come downstairs with me."

"No!" Molly snapped, "you're not the boss of me, Lucy! You may be two minutes older, but that doesn't mean you can boss me around! Now leave me alone!"

Scorpius had to fight to laugh at the interaction of the two twin girls. Lucy stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her while Molly just sighed clearly pissed off with her sister.

"Do you want to play exploding snap?" Scorpius asked with a smile, the younger girl nodded enthusiastically and both of them passed the time playing the game.

*****HS*****

Albus had come to get Scorpius and Molly when it was time for dinner. Lucy had told him where Scorpius was, and he decided to let him and Molly spend some time together as the young girl hardly ever talked to anyone outside of family. After supper they sang carols and put all their presents to each other under the Christmas tree. Where there were so many people the space under the tree was enlarged and each person had a stocking which again was enlarged that had all their presents in it. 'Saint Christmas', the Christmas elf that came when you were sleeping, put a few things in there as well. The adults always joked that he was going to mix up the kids one of these days causing the younger kids to give answers of 'but he's magic!' And the older kids to roll their eyes, obviously old enough to know the difference.

At midnight Albus and Scorpius exchanged their gifts and surprisingly enough they both got the other books and chocolate. "Good night, Scor, Happy Christmas," Albus whispered once they were both in bed.

"Happy Christmas, Al," Scorpius answered and within minutes both boys were sleeping.

*****HS*****

Early in the morning Albus and Scorpius were awoken by Hannah and Alisha jumping on their bed.

"Get up!" Hannah yelled, jumping on top of Scorpius.

"Yeah! Up!" Alisha giggled sitting on Albus.

"Okay, okay, why don't you get the adults up?" Albus said looking at his young cousins.

The twin's eyes lit up as they ran out of Albus' room causing Albus to laugh, "They'll be made to take a sleep potion, we can still sleep for a few more hours."

Scorpius nodded, "They're so full of energy."

Albus giggled, "Yup, sleep a bit more, it's not good to be tired here on Christmas."

"Why?" Scorpius asked, snuggling back down under the covers.

Albus giggled and followed his friend. "Well, we get up and Grandma Molly and all my aunts and mum start on breakfast, we eat then we open presents from youngest to oldest so we actually know who got what, while we're opening the gifts we get hot cocoa. After that we have a few games of Quidditch while dinner is being made. After dinner we have Christmas photos and butterbeer, we have the non-alcoholic stuff, obviously. Sometimes mum gets drunk. Dad says its cause she can't handle it. Some people head home by that time and others stays here. Everyone is usually tired and we head to bed when everyone's gone."

Scorpius yawned, "Wow."

Albus nodded and within seconds both boys were asleep thinking about what Christmas was going to be like.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Bedroom<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; in_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_

_Note: I went back and changed a few things in earlier chapters... Now Ginny is a little more IC and Scorpius isn't as Gary-Stuish, I made it so he couldn't do the hair growing / hair thinning spells and such. Thanks for all your reviews they're really appreciated! _

_Thanks to Tris for Betaing _


	16. Christmas

**Chapter Sixteen:** Christmas

* * *

><p>When Albus woke up a few hours later he could already smell the food cooking in the kitchen. He stretched, hitting Scorpius in the process, waking him up.<p>

"What was that for?" Scorpius asked as he stiffled a yawn, "What time is it?"

"Eight," Albus replied, "Better get up and dressed, breakfast will be ready in half an hour."

Scorpius nodded. "Have you seen my socks? They were in my trunk..."

Albus smirked. "What? The insanely organized Scorpius Malfoy has lost his socks?"

"Shut up," Scorpius said sticking his tongue out. Albus threw a pair of socks at him and both boys got dressed. By the time they were ready, Molly was calling everyone down for breakfast.

The adults had a series of long picnic tables lined off inside quite a few fly tents, a warming charm used in the tents since they were outside in the cold December air. The amount of food on the table was incredible; everybody sat down and started eating and conversing through the meal. Scorpius couldn't help but notice the two cameras taking pictures every few minutes, by the looks of it one was Muggle and the other magical.

"Pressies 'ow?" Hannah asked looking at her mother, both of the twins were finished their breakfast before everyone else and were getting very impatient.

Luna, the girls' mother smiled, "Yes honey, when everyone's done you can open presents."

"Sissy!" Hannah whined looking at Alisha, "eat acker aster!"

Everyone at the table laughed at the baby and after all the adults had their coffee and the kids ate their breakfast they went into the living room to open their presents.

Gift opening took the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. All the children enjoyed what they got, especially Lily, who got a muggle Quidditch set. Scorpius was again amazed that the two cameras were set up to take pictures of the gifts they got and wondered what they could possibly be for.

Like Albus said, after presents the kids and male adults went outside and played Quidditch, the younger kids played with Lily's Quidditch set while the others had a real game.

"Having fun?" Albus' older cousin Dominique asked sitting next to him, it was Scorpius and Dominique's turn to sit out a game as there were 9 kids but only 7 spots.

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Christmas here is a lot better than at home."

Dominique giggled. "I bet."

Scorpius smiled at the part Veela and went back to watching the game. Albus was playing seeker against his father, swerving up over the field and diving low every few seconds when he thought he saw the snitch. Scorpius subconsciously rubbed his itching arm while watching Albus do another dive.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Dominique asked looking at the younger boy suspiciously.

"What?" Scorpius said with a tilt of his head, and then he realized what he was doing, "Oh. Nothing, just a bit cold. Why do you keep staring at the tall blonde you're always around? Roxanne, I think?"

Dominique blushed. "What? I don't know what you're talking about!"

Scorpius smirked. "You like her! Like…like, like!"

Dominique rolled her eyes, blushing even more. "No I don't, she's my cousin! And a girl! That's not right!"

Scorpius shrugged. "All of my family are interlinked somehow. And so what if she's a girl?"

Dominique sighed. "Is it that obvious?"

"No," Scorpius said with a shrug, "not to anyone but me, anyway. I'm really observant."

Dominique nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. "Okay, maybe I do like her..."

"Well that much is obvious," Scorpius said, "She likes you too you know."

"I know," Dominique said quietly, not looking at the young boy who knew way too much for his age. "She told me..."

_"I just can't do this anymore Domi!" Roxanne shouted at her best friend, getting off the couch where they were watching a movie and pacing the room, "I can't!"_

_"What are you talking about Roxy?" Dominique asked, confusion clear in her expression. Roxanne sighed and before Dominique could tell what was happening Roxanne was sitting in her lap, arms wrapped around her back and her lips pressed against hers. Dominique kissed back after her initial shock and allowed her cousin and best friend to explore her mouth. Before either of them knew what they were doing their clothes were off and they were exploring each other's body._

"So what's stopping you from being with her?" Scorpius asked, "she likes you, you like her. Fuck what other people say or think."

Dominique just started at Scorpius for a good five minutes, "You're eleven!" She finally managed to say which Scorpius smirked at, "really? Thanks Dominique I didn't know that!"

"Cheeky brat," Dominique said lightly hitting him on the arm, "And call me Dom or Domi, everyone else does and what I meant was you shouldn't be saying that language."

Scorpius shrugged. "There's lots of things we shouldn't do."

"It's starting to rain!" Albus exclaimed running over to where Scorpius and Dominique were sitting. Both boys made a hightail for the house wondering why in heavens name it was raining in December.

*****HS*****

"Gather round, gather round!" Molly Weasley said, urging all the children into a tight clump, all of them had their brand new jumpers on including Scorpius. For some reason the jumpers this year were all different colors. For one, Scorpius' was yellow while Albus' was blue. The kids were confused by this but didn't ask any questions on the matter.

"I feel like we're back in World War Two," Albus whispered, "going into a gas chamber or something."

Scorpius giggled, trying not to be very loud. He had lent Albus a few of his books about the muggle wars that he bought behind his mother's back and he was amazed by how cruel the Muggles were.

"Scorpius, dear move a bit closer to Albus... There we go, now on three, one, two, three!" Molly said with elevated enthusiasm, snapping pictures with a speed. Scorpius still didn't understand why they used muggle pictures when they could have ones that moved, but he wouldn't dare ask where Albus' mother, uncle Ron, and grandfather were, too afraid that they'd take it as one of the pureblood-too-good-for-muggle-things thing. So he made a mental note to ask Albus later that night.

After they got their pictures taken, which surprisingly enough Scorpius was a part of all the pictures. People started to go home and once again the house was quiet. Scorpius and Albus went up to Albus' room, Albus researching on his iPad and Scorpius reading a book. Both of them stayed silent, enjoying the quiet until Albus found what he was looking for.

"Experts describe deliberate self-harm as ineffective problem-solving. People who self-injure are often seeking relief from psychological pain, unbearable tension, loneliness, depression, anger or an absence of feeling or numbness. Some people self-harm to feel emotions more intensely; others do it to punish themselves for being "bad." They either cannot or have not learned how to express those feelings more effectively. If a healthy solution is not put into effect, it can go spiralling out of control and end in a great tragedy." Albus read off the website getting Scorpius' attention. The blonde haired boy just looked at his friend for a few seconds and sighed.

"I'm fine Al," he said, trying to convince himself more than Albus. Tears started to pool his eyes no matter how hard he tried to fight them.

"You're not," Albus said simply with a shake of his head. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the image of Scor on the bathroom floor out of his head and was determined to help him.

*****HS*****

"How's your arm and hand?" Albus asked getting in bed next to Scorpius who shrugged his shoulders, "Fine."

Albus nodded sensed he didn't want to talk about it so he let the subject drop. An awkward silence fell over them and Scorpius was the first to break it.

"I just don't understand, Al," he whispered, staring off into the dark room. "I'm eleven years old and whenever I think about stuff, I get an overwhelming urge to hurt myself."

"My cousin, Alicia used to hurt herself too," Albus said also staring into the dark, "She started when she was nine, I don't think age has anything to do with it."

"Why'd she do it?" Scorpius asked quietly, looking at Albus through the dark.

"She thought she was a Squib. Her older brothers showed heaps of magic and so did her younger sister." Albus answered then he shrugged his shoulders, "That's how it started anyway."

Scorpius nodded and stayed silent for a few minutes, just about when Albus thought he'd fallen asleep he whispered, "I don't know how to control my emotions. One minute I'm happy and then the next I'm sucked into some kind of mundane existence inside my head just thinking what's the point of this all? Why are we put on earth just to be hurt?"

Albus smiled at the huge step Scorpius took to admit his feelings and gave him a hug, "I know," he whispered, "Life is cruel. And life isn't fair. But I'm going to help you every step of the way, trust me."

And he did. Scorpius nodded his head and for once in a very long time he fell asleep looking forward to the next day.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; coffee<em>

_The Multi-Map-Chap Challenge; to_

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The Long Haul Competition III_

_The MegaNovel Competition_

_Note: Thanks for all your reviews they're really appreciated! _

_Thanks to Tris for Betaing _


	17. Bonding

**Chapter Seventeen: **Bonding

* * *

><p>"So what do you guys do for New Year's?" Scorpius asked Albus on the morning of New Year's Eve.<p>

"Nothing really," Albus said with a shrug, "Big party with Greek chicken, storytelling with all my family."

"All of them?" Scorpius asked, feeling squeamish.

"Yeah, it's the same amount of people as Christmas," Albus said with a shrug, "They'll all be here in a few hours; we can go up in my room and play a video game with Molly, but we'll have to come down for storytelling, it's tradition."

Scorpius nodded, he liked the younger Weasley a lot more than he liked most of Albus' family, though he would never tell Albus that, and storytelling did sound really intriguing. He grabbed the exercise book that Albus had the names of all his games and began reading the relatively long list looking for something to play once everyone got there.

"We should clean your arm," Albus said after a while. Scorpius groaned, but nodded nonetheless and Albus went to the bathroom.

*****HS*****

"Albus, Aunt Ginny said - oh. Hi, where's Albus?" A tall muscular guy asked coming into Albus' room. Scorpius looked up from the game he was playing on Albus' iPad and blushed under the strangers stare.

"Uhm- He- Ah- went to the bathroom," Scorpius answered lamely, his naturally pale skin turning bright red.

"Okay," the older boy said trying to hold back his laughter. "I'm Cedric by the way, Albus' cousin."

"S-Scorpius, his uh- friend," Scorpius said trying to remain cool. For some reason he felt like he wanted to impress this boy. Cedric, however, noticing his awkwardness just smiled and excused himself, telling Scorpius that he would see him later. Once Cedric was gone Scorpius flopped back on the bed and covered his face in his hands. You're such a girl! He scolded himself. Way to act like you have a crush on the guy!

Albus came in a few minutes later with the necessary materials and started to undress his wound. "It isn't re opening anymore so the bleeding has stopped for good."

Scorpius nodded, he never said much when it came to his self-abuse or the torture he endured at home. He liked to pretend that he had a perfect little family, one with enough money to live comfortably, and a nice normal house. But his image was always torn down when he arrived home. His family wasn't perfect, his father was oblivious, his older sister stunned his younger sister daily, and his mother, well he'd love to throw her in the Great Lake as squid food. Scorpius sighed coming back to reality; Albus was done with his arm. He muttered a quick 'thanks' and followed him downstairs to see what Ginny wanted.

*****HS*****

"Albus, Molly is here," Ginny said when she saw Albus and Scorpius coming down the stairs.

The expanded living room at Grimmauld place was full of people when Albus, Scorpius, and Molly made their way downstairs. Lucy appeared next to the three, pulling her sister away from the boys. Once everyone was seated around the fire in a huge semi-circle they started singing a song that Scorpius never heard of before so he took the time to look around. He was sitting in between Albus and Dominique on the furthest end with Roxanne at the very end next to Dominique. Both girls were still very discrete but Scorpius saw out of the corner of his eye both of their hands interlinked on the floor.

Once the song was over the night went on, with Harry telling a story first. Scorpius kind of zoned completely out until someone said, "Who did what in where now?"

Scorpius noticed the voice came from a boy in the other side of the room who was sitting next to Cedric and Teddy.

"Felix! Don't interrupt!" A blonde adult, presumably his mother scolded. Harry laughed, "It's okay Katie," he said with a smile, "Ron, Hermione, and I went to the girls bathroom on the second floor and that's where we opened the chamber of secrets."

"The chamber of what?" Cedric asked, Scorpius noticed that the only ones asking questions were out of Hogwarts which caused him to become suspicious. He knew of the Chamber of Secrets, of course by a book he read, but the other kids who seem not to be confused in the slightest were just waiting for the story to continue. They probably think it's made up Scorpius thought, Just wait until I tell my story of dad and the Whomping Willow.

"That's nothing," Teddy said with a shrug, obviously hearing this story before, "Fel, remember when we convinced the first years that if you don't get needles you'll turn into a Muggle?"

Felix laughed, "Yeah! We got detention in the Hospital wing for a month! I remember the speech you gave Professor McGonagall too!"

"Oh yeah," Teddy said with a grin, his bright blue hair turning brown, "But professor! The kids had to take their injections, this way I made sure they did, and I was sure to tell them the difference once they were done!"

"Eloquently put, Mr Lupin," Felix quoted, "however I cannot have you scaring my students! I remember then you were like 'it's Lupin-Potter'."

Both boys continued laughing until they were quietened by the adults and they kept taking turns telling stories until it was time to eat.

*****HS*****

After the extended family and friends had finished eating, Scorpius went upstairs to get dressed for the party later that night when he heard a little cry coming from the room across from his. Scorpius went into the room noticing big brown eyes looking up at him from the playpen.

Scorpius went over to the young child and smiled, "Hey little one," he whispered softly as to not to scare her. "Do you wanna come up?"

The little girl put her arms up with a smile on her face causing Scorpius to lift her up. Scorpius smiled and decided to go into another room with the small child so he wouldn't wake up her sister.

"Num?" The little girl asked sitting on Albus' bed. Scorpius thought for a minute as to what the child could possibly mean.

"Name?" He guessed after a few attempts and she giggled and clapped her hands causing Scorpius to laugh as well. "My name is Scorpius, Score-Pee-Us, can you say that?"

"See-Pee-Uhs!" she said with a smile causing Scorpius to praise the baby girl. "Me Ha-nana."

Scorpius laughed. "Nice to meet you, Hannah."

Scorpius was always good with children, when he was in daycare he could get the younger kids to calm down when they were upset. He lay on the bed and watched as the little girl climbed over him laughing and tiring herself out.

*****HS*****

"Albus, Honey, have you seen Hannah?" Luna asked in panic as soon as he went down the stairs to the second floor.

Albus shook his head, "No, I didn't. You should ask Scor, he came up to get dressed."

Luna nodded and followed Albus down the hall to his room, her eyes lighting up and her heart melting at the sight before her. Outstretched on Albus' bed was Scorpius with Hannah on top of him and both of them were asleep.

"I almost don't want to wake them up," Luna said with a smile moving Scorpius' arms so she could lift Hannah off of him.

"Mum-muh!" Hannah said opening her eyes and smiling at her mother. She pointed to Scorpius and giggled, "See-Pee-uhs seep-seep!"

Luna smiled at her daughter. "Yes honey, now let's go to bed, shall we?"

"No!" Hannah said with pride and started giggling again, "See-Pee-Uhs me no!"

"Did he now?" Luna said with a smile, glad her daughter was learning her words. Albus was just watching the scene go by with a smile; out of all his little cousins he liked Hannah the best because of how hard she tried pronouncing words and such. It was true that she was only thirteen months old but Luna often reminded him that magical babies sometimes grow faster than Muggle ones.

Albus lightly pushed Scorpius onto his side of the bed and got in bed himself. "Hey Scor?"

"Hm?"

"The parties in a few hours," Albus said with a smile and Scorpius just groaned.

"Kids make me tired… wake me in time to get ready."

Albus laughed at his best friend but none the less left him alone to get some much needed sleep.

* * *

><p><em>The MultiChaptered Boot Camp; Spoil the child<em>

_The 100k Multi-Chapter Competition_

_The MegaNovel Competition_

_Note: Thanks for all your reviews they're really appreciated!_

_Thanks to Tris for Betaing_


	18. Unexpected Parties

**Chapter Eighteen:** Unexpected Parties

"Come on, Scor. The kid's party is up in the attic!" Albus said with a smile pulling the blonde boy away from the kitchen. The two boys went up in the attic where all of Albus' family and friends were sitting around a big table that was full of shot glasses.

"Okay! Rules," Albus' older brother Teddy started, "No one under fourteen drinks the Firewhiskey." He said, gaining groans from the crowd he was around. "Other than that, everything is fair game… Who wants to go first?"

"Never have I ever slept with a boy," Roxanne said with a smirk, watching as all her older female cousins drank a shot.

"Never have I ever streaked," Lily said with a smile, watching as her cousins turned towards her with raised eyebrows. Usually the younger kids had less dirty 'never have I ever' statements. Nonetheless, her oldest brother, Teddy drank.

"Never have I never slept with a girl," Scorpius said earning death glares from Dominique and Roxanne. Nevertheless both girls and Teddy, Cedric, and Harry, who was Cedric's younger brother, drank. Some people gave the girls curious looks but no one questioned either of them.

The game went on for an hour or more, the elder kids getting drunker by the minute. Scorpius and Albus, unlike most of the other younger children, didn't try to sneak any Firewhiskey when the older kids got too drunk to care and were enjoying watching all of them get drunk out of their mind. Even Rose had a few shots, which made the two boys tickled pink to have something to hold over her head.

"This is getting way out of hand, Al," Scorpius said to Albus as Victorie took off her top and started swinging it around. "Where are the adults?"

"They're outside, I think." Albus said back, "It doesn't matter anyway, Teddy puts up silent charms, and they're probably drinking too,"

"Not very responsible, are they?" Scorpius asked

Albus shrugged. "I don't mean this badly, and a few stay sober, like Aunt Luna cause of the twins."

Scorpius nodded. "Maybe we should go tell the adults?"

Albus paused for a minute. "I don't know, Teddy and Vic will probably kill us."

Scorpius looked over at the two teens in question who were dirty dancing on the table and shook his head. "Well we should at least round up all the little kids, they shouldn't be around this."

Albus nodded in agreement and followed Scorpius over to Alice Longbottom, who was sipping on a fire whiskey and cheering Teddy (who was now drinking out of a beer bong) on.

"Alice, take Frank and Abi and bring them to their room and stay there with them, this is getting too out of control to be around," Scorpius explained, taking the fire whiskey out of her hand.

Alice glared at Scorpius and snatched her drink back. "What do you mean? I'm only a year younger then you! And Frank is only a year younger than me!"

"That doesn't mean anything," Albus pitched in. "Neither of us are drinking."

"We're just trying to get you out of trouble, just go to bed with your brother and sister." Scorpius said with a roll of his eyes.

"No!" Alice shouted, falling over and dropping her drink.

"Fine, don't say I didn't warn you," Scorpius said, turning to Frank and Abigail. "Come on guys, time for bed."

"Oh my god!" Albus shrieked causing Scorpius to jump.

"What is it?" Scorpius asked, startled. Albus just raised his hand to point to his sister on the other side of the room. Scorpius looked over and was shocked to see the young girl running across the room naked. Scorpius grabbed a blanket from a nearby couch and wrapped it around her.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Albus yelled giving his sister a death glare.

"Nymph dared me," Lily shrugged. "I can't not do a dare."

"Lily, did you drink any of the fire whiskey?" Scorpius asked leading the girl out of the attic and to her room while Albus went to get the rest of his younger siblings.

"Ew! Of course not," Lily said with a screwed up face. Scorpius nodded and brought Lily to her bed, tucking her in snugly in her bed, and as soon as Lily's head touched the pillow her eyes were closed and she was asleep.

Scorpius waited until the rest of the girls came down before he left the room, meeting Albus in the hallway.

"They're all in bed," Albus confirmed with a nod as the boys made their way to his room to get some sleep.

*****HS*****

The loudness and ruckus of the party soon made its way down to the adults, the silencing charm after being broken. Harry made his way up to the attic very angrily.

"What's going on here?" Harry shouted when he reached the attic, and all the children looked at him in shock, "Get. To. Bed. Now! You will be talking with each of your parent's tomorrow morning to decide on each separate punishment! Teddy, stay."

All the children ran to their bedrooms while Teddy stayed with his uncles, aunts, father, and mother.

"This is all _his_ fault!" Ron shouted, clearly not talking about Teddy. "Pressuring my little Rosie into drinking! Where is the little snake anyway?"

"Ron!" Harry yelled. "Scorpius is in Albus' room asleep. He's also an eleven year old boy! He didn't do anything wrong! Besides; Rose wasn't even supposed to be up here! Go to bed and we'll straighten this all out in the morning!"

Ron grumbled, but walked away none the less, the rest of the adults filed out as well, until there was just Harry and Teddy.

"What were you thinking, Teddy?" Harry asked, outraged. "Do you have any idea what could have happened?"

"C-Chill daaaad," Teddy slurred.

"Go to bed," Harry said, clearly knowing he wasn't going to get any sense out of his son while he was still intoxicated, and he too went to bed.

*****HS*****

Harry wasn't looking forward to the next day at all, for one him and Ginny were still fighting, and two he had to talk to both his eldest sons, one for drinking underage and the other for giving minors alcohol. On top of all that, Ron was still being hostile to the youngest Malfoy.

"Don't you think it strange, Harry?" Ginny asked once they got up and dressed. "Malfoy comes and suddenly our children are drinking!"

"Our children aren't drinking, Ginny," Harry said slowly. "James is, Albus and Lily didn't touch it, and Scorpius brought Lily to bed, remember?"

Ginny huffed. "And what about Teddy? He used to be such a well behaved-"

"Stop it, Ginny," Harry said, cutting her off. "Teddy is nineteen years old, he is an adult, who may drink if he chooses to."

"But giving it-"

"I know," Harry said, cutting her off again. "I'm going to talk to him."

"Talk to him? You better do more than talk to him, Harry!" Ginny yelled. "He should be kicked out!"

"Excuse me?" Harry said, raising his eyebrow. "He's my son, Ginny. I'm not kicking out any of my children."

"He put your other children in danger, Harry!" Ginny yelled.

"I'm aware of that!" Harry said, yelling back now. "Would you even be saying that if it was James, or Albus, or Lily?"

Ginny froze and Harry took that for all the answer he needed. "You may not view him as your son, Ginny, but he is as sure as hell mine," Harry said, walking out of the room leaving a dumbstruck Ginny in their room.

*****HS*****

"Dad, I'm-"

"Don't say anything, Teddy, just listen," Harry said, cutting his son off, "What you did was extremely stupid and irrational, you have been of age for two years, so I can't ground you, though I am taking your Firebolt 3500, as I was the one who bought it and if you're staying here you will have to be home at Nine o'clock every day, unless you're working. Understand?"

"But my try outs-"

"You may use the broom for your try outs only," Harry said cutting him off again, "I wouldn't want to jeopardize you getting in."

Teddy nodded. "It was just supposed to be harmless… No one was supposed to get that drunk… And no one under fourteen was supposed to drink… Dad I'm so, so sorry…"

Harry pulled his son in for a hug. "I know, Teddy. Just no more giving minors alcohol, alright?"

"Wait," Teddy said, pulling back. "You think I bought it?"

"Well, you're the oldest," Harry said, sheepishly. "You didn't buy it?"

"No, Victorie did," Teddy explained. "She got it from Aunt Fleur's sister like she does every year."

*****HS*****

The next morning Scorpius woke up to the smell of breakfast coming from downstairs. He stretched and noticed that Albus wasn't in the bed next to him. He must have already gone down, he thought as he started to get dressed. The night before Scorpius had terrible nightmares, waking up every hour from a new one, glad that he managed not to wake Albus up. He hurried downstairs to breakfast only to be interrupted by Harry.

"We are extremely disappointed in every single one of you," Harry began solemnly. "Your parents and I have talked and everyone that was drinking last night will be attending boot camp this Easter. No exceptions. Teddy, Cedric, this means you as well, although you're of age you shouldn't have let minors drink. If your parents want to add anymore punishment I'll let them do so. However, James you're grounded until further notice."

This earned a groan from all the older kids and a few snickers from the younger ones. Scorpius however was confused as to what 'boot camp' meant and made a mental note to ask Albus later.

"Now I want this meal to be as silent as possible, think about what you have done, and why it was wrong," Harry added and then everyone started eating while an awkward silence spreading over the outstretched table. Scorpius noticed that neither of the adults looked pleased so he didn't dare speak. The first one brave enough to speak was, unsurprisingly, Lily. "This is stupid; can I have more pancakes?"

Earning a chuckle from the table Harry gave his daughter a few more pancakes and the rest of the meal went by uneventfully.


	19. Dungeon Bat

**Chapter Nineteen:** The Dungeon Bat

* * *

><p>Severus Snape was always a private man, even when he took in the insufferable brat, Harry Potter he was still a private man. Maybe that's why he didn't tell anyone of his miraculous dodge of death, but nevertheless, he regretted it more than ever.<p>

At eleven o'clock on January first he heard a knock on his door and secretly hoped that Harry didn't bring his whole family, he wasn't sure if he could handle that.

"Master Severus sir, Master Harry is here with his sons and daughter and the young Master Malfoy," Severus' house elf, Slinky said waiting for further instruction.

"Very well, Slinky, please bring the guests to the sitting room and then go help with the preparation of dinner," Severus asked taking a deep breath.  
>Here goes nothing, he thought.<p>

*****HS*****

"Why are we going to Professor Snape's again, dad?" Teddy asked for the fourth time since they started walking, "And why can't we just apparate or floo there?"

"We're going because we were invited, Teddy and Severus has wards on his manor that you can't get through," Harry said calmly, "Seriously Teddy, your siblings aren't complaining, so why should you?"

Teddy shrugged, "Sorry, dad."

Albus and James snickered at this while they finally got to the manor and knocked on the door. A house-elf answered happily, "Master Harry! You've come back!"

Harry laughed at the weird looking creature and he and his kids followed the house elf into the kitchen.

"Professor Snape," Scorpius, Albus, James, and Teddy greeted respectively.

"Children," Snape nodded to them, not noticing the emerald green eyes of a tiny redhead staring up at him from behind her brother's best friend. Lily was clutching Scorpius' leg in a death grip, she had heard of the potions professor of her father's Hogwarts days and all the horrible things that happened.

"Lily, stop being rude!" Harry said sternly, causing Snape to look at the young girl, Harry noticed a look of pain go across Snape's face, but as soon as it was there, it vanished.  
>"Sorry," the girl said, still clutching Scorpius, "I'm Lily."<p>

"Severus Snape," Snape said with a smile, "But you can call me Severus."

"Okay," Lily said, tilting her head. He isn't so bad, she thought as they made their way into the sitting room. All five kids sat on an enlarged sofa waiting for the lingering awkwardness to vanish.

"Do you still have the Quidditch pitch?" Harry asked Snape after a few minutes of small talk.

"Yes," Snape said, looking in the direction of the children, "Your room is the way you left it."

"You had a Quidditch pitch in your room?" Teddy asked with a hint of annoyance, "You're such a hypocrite!"

"Teddy!" Lily said with her hands on her hips, "Daddy is not a hypocrite! He said it would spoil you, and he was right!"

"How would you know?" Teddy asked, confused, "You were only three when I asked for it…"

"He said the same thing to James," Lily said with a shrug of her shoulders, looking over at her father and the other man, "Do you have any toys, Mr. Snape Sir? Like exploding snap?"

Snape nodded, "Yes, that's also in your fathers old room, up the stairs and it's the furthest left door."

All of the kids nodded and soon made their way out of the room, Harry looked at Snape with a smile, "You know you're a lot better with kids than you like to believe."

"Impossible," Snape said with mock surprise, "How have you been?"

"Fine," Harry said, "I've missed you Sev."

"I know," Snape said with a frown, "It wasn't right to keep my non-death a secret from you…"

"It wasn't," Harry said quietly, thinking back on his past…

_"Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?" Lord Voldemort asked looking at the elder wand then back at Severus Snape. "I took it from that dreaded man's grave!"_

_"I don't know why it doesn't work, Tom." Snape said, venom in his voice, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find my son."_

_"Don't pretend you don't know where he is, Severus!" Voldemort shrieked, "You will be reunited with him soon, don't worry... Nagini?"_

_"No!" Harry shouted as Snape's body hit the ground when the snake lunged at him. Luckily Hermione had predicted this happening and had a silencing charm around the three of them. Seconds later Voldemort passed them and went straight out of the Shrieking Shack giving Harry an availability to go to Snape's side._

_"Look...at...me..." Snape whispered, "I...love...you..."_

_Tears streamed down Harry's face. This couldn't happen, he couldn't lose someone else that he loved; he had to be able to do something. "I love you too." He whispered back, but before he could finish the sentence, Snape was gone._

_"I know it doesn't make up for lost time, Harry. But I would like to start over," Severus said looking at his full grown son, who smiled, "I'd like that."_

"Tell me what I missed?" Severus asked with a shadow of a smile. If truth be told he wasn't expecting Harry to forgive him so easily but was overjoyed that he did.

"Uh... Well, I adopted Teddy when he was three, and me and Ginny got married a few years after that in 2003, a year after that we had James Sirius," Severus scowled, causing Harry to laugh, "I know you didn't like James or Sirius, but they were my father and father-like-figure at one time."

"I know," Severus said, his scowl not leaving his face, "What about the other mutt?"

"Remus is Teddy's middle name, you know that," Harry said with a smile, "Two years after that I had Albus Severus," This caused Severus to snort.

"What?"

"Dumbledore's and my name together?"

"Well, Severus Albus didn't sound right to me," Harry said with a grin. "Two years after Al we had Lily Luna and that's about it. I have a job at the Auror office, and Ginny stays home with Lily, she was on the Harpies team but she quit after she fell pregnant with James. Teddy and his friend Felix have a try out in a few weeks for the Puddlemore team."

"Very good," Severus said, "I will wish him luck before he goes. How is Miss Weasley?"

Harry sighed, "She's impossible, this morning she told me I should kick teddy out because he was being a reckless teenager last night and she can't accept that Albus and Scorpius are friends. She's being so immature I don't even know what to do."

"I see," Severus said with a frown, "It seems that she is still in her teenage years herself."

***HS***

"I can't believe dad had all this stuff when he was a kid!" James exclaimed looking around the expanded room with awe.

"James, we have lots of toys too!" Lily scolded, "We have countless videogames, two Quidditch pitches, a bunch of movies-"

"We get it, Lily," James said, rolling his eyes at his sister, who never seemed to be impressed with anything. She was currently sitting in the middle of the ring in the Quidditch pitch looking down at her brothers and Scorpius. "How did you even get up there?"

"Scor," Lily said with a huge grin. Her brother just looked at Scorpius with a confused expression which caused Scorpius and Albus to burst out laughing.

"I can do magic, you know." Scorpius smirked, showing the older boy his wand. "I figured your mum isn't around, so why not?"

"This is true," James said, his face deep in thought.

"How about we have a game of Quidditch?" Teddy suggested before James could think of anything to do to get them into more trouble than they were already in. The idea of Quidditch lit up James and Lily's faces so they played a game of two on two with Scorpius keeping score.

*****HS*****

"Bye Grandpa Sev!" Lily said with a grin, wrapping her arms around Severus. Throughout the dinner the children got to know Severus better and Lily to Severus' surprising joy started calling him Grandpa Sev. "By the way, I don't think you're an evil dungeon bat like James and Teddy said."

"Lily!" James and Teddy said at the same time, sending her death glares.

Lily smirked and let go of the man who was also smirking down at her.

"Uhm... Bye," Teddy said awkwardly, giving the intimidating man a half wave.

"Goodbye Teddy," Severus said pleasantly with half a smile, "Good luck at your Quidditch try outs."

"Thanks," Teddy said surprisingly, truth be told he was really nervous about his tryouts where as it was in Felix's blood; Teddy's mother was very clumsy and his father didn't play the sport; so it didn't come naturally to him.

"Dungeon bat?" Albus snickered at his brother causing James to blush and slap his brother on the arm.

"It's what all the third years are saying!" James defended, looking at his potions professor with a nervous half smile.

"Are they now?" Severus said with a smirk, "At least I know after thirty years; I've still got it."

This statement made all the children burst out laughing. Severus pretended to be hurt and scolded them taking '10 points from Gryffindor' which only made Lily screw up her face.

"Grandpa Sev!" She complained, "I'm a Slytherin!"

"Lily, you're only nine!" James said with a roll of his eyes. Ever since their father started telling them stories about the Hogwarts houses Lily had always said she was a Slytherin; despite her being too young to be sorted; and despite the only people of their family in Slytherin being their Aunt Lyra and their cousins Roxanne and Dominique.

Severus smiled, "Well then twenty points for Slytherin!"

*****HS*****

The morning of the eighth of January Scorpius and Albus were up and packed before dawn had even arrived. The two boys were eager to get back to Hogwarts, after being gone for almost a month. By the time nine-thirty came around everybody in the Potter house was up and James was running around trying to get everything he needed for school.

"Bye mum," Albus said, giving his mother a hug. Ginny was staying behind with Lily because the young girl didn't want to go to the platform again.

"I'll see you at Easter," Ginny said with a smile, hugging her youngest son tightly. Scorpius just stood in the doorway awkwardly, waiting for Harry to tell them it was time to go.  
>Ginny looked at the blonde haired boy with a smile, "It was nice meeting you, Scorpius."<p>

Scorpius looked shocked at the fact that Mrs. Potter was talking to him, she never willingly talked to him at all over the holidays and even though she was sure she only said the statement in hopes of never seeing him again he replied, "You too, Mrs. Potter."

"Alright, come on boys, time to go," Harry said coming into the room with a smile. He ruffled Scorpius and Albus' hair and gently pushed them towards the door. The three boys made their way to the car and were silent for the whole ride to Kings Cross Station. Once on the platform the three boys said goodbye to Harry, Albus and James gave him a quick hug, and they ran off to find their friends on the train.


	20. The Mind of Lily Potter

**Chapter Twenty:** The Mind of Lily Potter

* * *

><p><em>Dear Diary<em>

_They're at it again. Ever since Al and James went back to school all mummy and daddy do is fight. I think they think I can't hear them, but I can. I just don't understand, Diary. Why must they fight so much?_

_Lily Potter_

_February 8, 2017_

Lily sighed, putting her diary in its spot under her bed. It was only a month since her brothers and Scorpius left to go back to Hogwarts but she missed them already. It wasn't that they were even really close, it was just the comfort of having someone there.

"I don't care, Harry!" She heard her mother scream from the floor above her and she fought to keep her tears back. She knew her father was cross at her mother, and she knew Scorpius was part of the problem, but she didn't quite know the whole story. Quietly and efficiently, she crept up the stairs to the third floor and sat outside the door she knew her parents were in as she did many nights in the past month.

"I know you don't," Harry said, unlike her mummy, her daddy was calm and he almost never raised his voice unless he was extremely mad. Lily adored that one thing about her father. "If you did you wouldn't be screaming and shouting at me while our nine year old daughter is downstairs."

Lily found herself nodding at that statement. She knew adults fought, she wasn't stupid, she just wished her parents wouldn't fight where she was too. "Lily has nothing to do with this, Harry! It's that boy of yours!"

Lily assumed her mother was talking about Teddy, as she wouldn't refer to either of her other brothers as 'that boy'.

Before she knew it, the door to the room opened and her parents came out, her mother looked extremely surprised to see her, while her father didn't at all. Her mother didn't say anything and nor did her father, he just picked her up and headed downstairs.

"Daddy," she said quietly as he tucked her back in her bed, "why don't mummy like Teddy anymore?"

Her father sighed and planted a kiss on her forehead, "I don't know baby girl, now get some rest, okay?"

Lily nodded and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

*****HS*****

_Dear diary,_

_Mummy didn't say much when I woke up this morning. I'm assuming its cause she didn't notice me ease dropping on her last night. But other than that everything was normal. I think they're trying to pretend everything is okay, but when I woke up and went to the loo, I heard daddy suggesting they go see a marriage councilor. I'm not sure what they are, but I hope it helps. Miss Surrey is looking at me weirdly, I think it's because I'm supposed to be writing in my writing book and not you, diary. I hate daycare so much, there's no point in it at all._

_Lily Potter_

_February 9, 2013_

"Lily, please do your work," Miss Surrey said with a disapproving look, taking her diary out of her hands.

"Hey! That's mine! Give it back!" Lily said glaring at the teacher. However it was no use because she ignored Lily and put the diary up on the shelf. Lily could feel her anger building inside of her and the next thing she knew Miss Surrey was across the room and her diary was floating back towards her. Lily just looked at the situation in shock, tears pooling in her eyes as she realized what she done.

_I'm in for it now._

*****HS*****

"Lillian Luna Potter!" Lily's mother scolded when she came to pick her up, "How dare you curse your teacher! What on earth got you so mad?"

"She took my diary when I was in the middle of writing!" Lily said with a frown, ever since her mother shown her dislike of Scorpius, just because of who his father was, Lily felt further away from her mother.

"What were you supposed to be doing?" Her mother asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lily rolled her eyes and replied, "Writing in our cursive books. But that's so stupid! The only thing I need to be able to write is my name and I can do that perfectly! Daycare or preschool or whatever you want to call it is boring! I don't learn anything anymore!"

"You are grounded until further notice, young lady, I don't want to hear a peep coming from you, now go to your room and do your homework." Her mother said causing the frustrated nine year old to run upstairs and clam the door, she knew she was being a brat, and if she didn't calm down she was going to get a spanking, but at that moment she didn't care. It seemed like all her mother cared about was being right. She wondered why her father wasn't home from work yet, he would have laughed at her, not thought she was being a disrespectful brat. She sighed and fell to her bed, wishing she could be far away from her mum.

*****HS*****

Lily was half finished her homework when she heard a faint tap on her window, she looked over to see what the noise was all about when she saw a beautiful snowy owl with a letter on its leg. Lily hurried over to the window and took the letter from the owl, ripping it open immediately.

_L.L_

_I would like to keep in touch with you, but we must do it in secret because I'm afraid of what my mum will do if she found out who I was sending letters too. My mum isn't a nice person, at all, I would probably get the spanking of a lifetime if she knew. So please use initials?_

_I enjoyed our stay together over Christmas. I never really had a friend before… Well I did, her name was Abi, but my mum sent her away all because of a misunderstanding. How are you doing without your brothers around? I'm really lonely, but other than that I'm fine._

_H.N_

*****HS*****

_H.N_

_What do the H stand for? I thought your first name was just N. I'd love to be your secret pen pal, as I'm grounded at the moment because I accidently hexed my teacher at preschool/daycare whatever you want to call it. So this is great timing. I think I should read the dictionary, then I can sound more like an adult! What do you think? I'm doing okay, I just hate being home while my brothers are at Hogwarts, I feel completely left out you know? I'm also hungry... Write back soon!_

_Your pen pal,_

_L.L_

*****HS*****

"Hey Pumpkin," Lily's dad said coming into her room that night. Lily was laid across her bed looking at the ceiling.

"Hi daddy," she replied not taking her eyes off her ceiling. The young girl was still relatively mad and she didn't want to hurt anyone else.

"I'll make you a deal," he said softly, sitting on her bed and turning her head so she was looking at him, "I'll get you a tutor so you can be homeschooled, if you go and see a mind healer."

Lily thought for a while, on a positive note she didn't want to go to preschool but on the negative she didn't really want to see a mind healer either. Not that she had anything against Mind Healers, her cousin Molly went to one, but she didn't like to talk all that much. "Okay," she said after a while, what's the worst thing that could happen?

*****HS*****

_Dear Diary,_

_I have my first appointment with my Mind Healer tomorrow and I'm really nervous. I don't know why really, I asked Molly what it was like and she said it was just like talking to a friend. Can you believe it, Diary? Nine-year-old friends with an adult? It sounds really weird to me. Daddy also said that after my appointment Molly, Lucy, and I can go for ice cream by ourselves! Mum never lets us go to Moo Moos by ourselves, speaking of mummy. Her and daddy had a huge fight the other night about me going to a mind healer; mummy argued that I wasn't crazy and daddy argued that he didn't say I was. I don't think people that see a mind healer are crazy; Molly has been going since she was five, how can a five year old be labeled as crazy? They can't. Anyway, the fight lasted forever like at least an hour, finally I heard mummy in the living room shouting the Burrow. I haven't seen her since, so I'm guessing she's at grandma and grandpas, the fight was almost two days ago. Daddy said she was just cooling down, but that's obviously a lie. I wonder are they going to split up? Also, aren't I supposed to be sad? I can't help feel anything but relief; they're not fighting anymore. I am a little upset that mummy is gone and didn't even think about me in the process; even though I am a daddies girl, and if given the choice is stay with daddy. Anyway, Diary, it's getting really late and I have to be up early, so I will say farewell for now._

_Lily Potter_

_February 23, 2017_

The bright sun was shining in right where Lily was sleeping causing her to groan and stretch. The sound of pecking was coming from her window. She looked up to see that there was a owl at the window, she opened it and took the letter marked 'L.L'.

* * *

><p><em>L.L<em>

_The H stands for Hydra, it's my birth name but I hate it so if you ever call me it I will hex you. You know... When I get my wand. Reading the dictionary is boring, but I do learn a lot of vocabulary. What's preschool/daycare? I don't go to a school, should I be? How was the rest of your Christmas?_

_H.N_

* * *

><p><em>H.N<em>

_Christmas was uneventful really. Every one of my cousins and aunts and uncles under one roof isn't fun, it's way to cramped. How's being back home with your mummy and daddy? Preschool/daycare is where you go to learn all the basic stuff I guess, like math and writing and boring stuff like that. It's something like Muggle school, so I get why you're not in it. How do you learn math, then? Do you have a tutor? My daddy said that he's going to get me a tutor now because he knows I hate preschool/daycare. He's making me see a mind healer though because he says I have anger issues, I don't have anger issues, do I? Well... I did get angry and hex my teacher across the room... I'm a little nervous about going to see a mind healer, but my cousin Molly see's one, so I hope it isn't that bad. _

_L.L_

*****HS*****

"Hello, I'm doctor Zabini," the women said with a warm smile.

"I'm Lily," Lily replied, sitting in the chair she was offered. She looked around the room with interest, it looked like a normal room that someone would have in their house.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" The woman asked with a welcoming smile, Lily just looked at her for a few minutes before replying.

"My name is Lily Luna Potter, I'm nine-years-old, I have an extremely large family, and therefore I have a few friends, but not really anyone outside my family. Though my brother's friend's sister and I have been writing letters to each other, I like her she's nice, her name is Naomi."

The session went a lot like a normal conversation, Lily was surprised that it wasn't anything like she imagined it would be. She found out that the doctors name was Padma and she was a Ravenclaw in Hogwarts. They basically just talked about Lily's massive family and Naomi.

"What about at your home?" Padma asked when Lily was talking to her about Molly and Lucy's room.

"My rooms nice too. It's purple and light green and I have a few pictures of me and my brothers around the walls, but it's mostly me and my cousins, Molly in particular. I made a collage of our Muggle photos and that's on the wall too." Lily said with a smile and Padma nodded.

"What about your home life? Are you happy at home?"

Lily thought for a moment. "I used to be. But ever since my brothers came home for Christmas all my parents did was argue and fight. On New Year's Day mummy told daddy that my oldest brother wasn't her son and daddy wouldn't talk to her. Now mummy is at grandmas and grandpas and she has been for the past few days."

Padma nodded and wrote something down on her clipboard. "How do that make you feel?"

"Angry," Lily said with a shrug, "a lot of things make me angry."

"I see."

*****HS*****

"How'd it go?" Harry asked Padma when Lily left the office.

"Good," Padma said with a nod.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Harry whispered so Lily couldn't overhear.

"Nothing is wrong with her, Harry," Padma said with a smile, "you talk like I'm going to tell you she's an alien. She just needs relaxation therapy so she knows how to handle her anger."

Harry let a sigh of relief out and nodded. "Thank you so much, Padma."

Padma smiled. "My nephews couldn't stop talking about your son all holiday, it's the least I can do."

*****HS*****

As the days and weeks passed by Ginny and Harry were getting further apart. Lily's mother came home a few days after her first visit with Padma, and she couldn't help but notice that her father was staying at work longer. When he was home him and her mother were very cold to one another. One night at dinner she finally decided that she seen enough, and she was done with being hurt.

"This is stupid!" She exclaimed, dropping her fork on the table. "If you're going to split up, do it already, because it obviously isn't working and your just hurting me in the process of whatever your doing!"

"Honey," her mother said in a childish voice, "I think you're just misunderstanding, you shouldn't think like that!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't?" Lily snapped back, rolling her eyes at her mother trying to talk to her as if she was four. She liked how her father talked to her, like she was an adult, and she understood that she was only nine, but she still liked being treated like an adult.

"She's right," Harry said with a shake of his head, "we're just hurting her more by staying together. Ginny, I want a divorce."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Do you want more letters between Lily and Naomi in future chapters? :)


	21. What is the Function of a Rubber Duck?

**Chapter Twenty-One: What is the Function of a Rubber Duck?**

* * *

><p>Coming back from home was always hard on every student in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but for Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy they couldn't be happier. They quickly got back on track with school work and everything was getting back to normal. However, when Albus got called out of class by Professor Longbottom in potions, Scorpius couldn't help but be a little worried. Students weren't usually called out unless there was a very good reason, not to mention that Neville Longbottom still wasn't on very good terms with Professor Snape. When the bell rang Scorpius rushed off to the Headmistress' office in search for his best friend.<p>

*****HS*****

Albus walked next to his Uncle Neville in silence, they stopped by Transfiguration to get James and then made their way to the headmistress' office. James was sending questioning glances to his brother which Albus only shrugged his shoulders too. When they got to the office both boys were surprised to see their parents and Lily. As soon as Lily saw her brothers she rushed over and gave both of them a hug, holding onto James extra tightly. _What is going on?_ Albus thought as his mother and father looked at each other strangely.

"Boys," Harry said sadly, looking at two of his sons. "Your mother and I are getting divorced."

"Wh-what?" James asked, clearly shocked.

"Your father and I can't come to any agreements, and we fight constantly, and this marriage just isn't working." Ginny said looking at her children with sympathy. "I'm getting my own place so by the time you come home you can go straight there."

"Will Scorpius be welcome there?" Albus asked, already knowing the answer, but having to ask.

"No Albus, I'm sorry but I don't like the Malfoy spawn," Ginny said confidentially, not realizing that her prejudices were going to lose her _everything_ she loved.

"I'll be staying with dad then," Albus said simply, looking at the ground to avoid the hurt look on his mothers face.

"Me too," Lily said with a frown, "I'm staying with my _brothers_."

Ginny just stared at her children for a few minutes, unable to speak. "You will do no such thing!"

"Ginny," Harry started looking at his soon-to-be ex-wife, "You're not making the kids go with you against their will. They will come and see you, but if they want to stay with me, they will be staying with me."

"I'll come to visit, mummy and we can have sleepovers but daddy's house is my home." Lily said and Albus nodded along with his sister.

"Okay," Ginny said softly. Deciding that this was not the time to fight.

"Can we go back to class now?" James asked, trying to mask the hurt he felt of having his parents split up.

Harry nodded. "I'll see you at Easter break. I love you."

James nodded. "Love you too," he mumbled giving both his parents a hug before disappearing out of the office.

"Daddy," Lily said smiling sweetly at her father. "Can I go see Grandpa Sev before we go?"

"Lily, he's working," Harry said with a frown.

"He should just be clearing potions up right now, actually," Albus piped in with a smile, wanting to make his baby sister happy.

"Let her go," Headmistress McGonagall said with a smile, "I have a few things to talk to you about."

Harry sighed. "Fine, five minutes Lily."

"Come on, I'll show you the way," Albus said taking his sister by the hand and leading her into the corridor where an anxious Scorpius was waiting.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked giving Lily a hug while looking at Albus. "James passed me two minutes ago, he looked like he was crying."

"My parents are divorcing, James didn't seem all too thrilled," Albus explained leading the way to the dungeons. "He hasn't had any personal feud with mum, so he probably doesn't get why it's happening."

It was time for lunch, so naturally all students would be in the great hall. Scorpius walked next to Albus, studying his friend's expression while holding Lily's hand tightly. He was unaware how to be supportive to his friends in this situation - after all he didn't particularly _like_ Mrs. Potter - so he chose to be silent.

*****HS*****

The door to the potions classroom was closed when the trio got there, though Lily didn't let that stop her as she opened the door and walked in, much to her brother and Scorpius' protests.

Snape looked up from his desk at his granddaughter who looked very much _like his Lily_ and smiled but then frowned. "What's wrong?"

Lily didn't say anything, she just ran into Snape's arms and held onto him tightly.

"Mum and dad are divorcing," Albus explained coming into the room with Scorpius.

Lily looked at her brother and sighed. "It's not that I'm surprised, really. When daddy came back from bringing you to the Hogwarts Express they started fighting and they didn't stop until mummy went to Grandma and Grandpa Weasleys _twice._ They were trying to be secretive about it but I'm nine-years-old, I'm not stupid."

"I'm so sorry Lily," Albus said with a frown, "you shouldn't have had to deal with that."

Lily shrugged, moving so she was in a more comfortable position on her grandfather's lap. "It's okay Al, now none of us will feel like we're drowning."

*****HS*****

The next morning both boys were exhausted as they made their way to Herbolgy. Neither of them woke up in time for breakfast, only waking up when Alexander woke them, ten minutes before class, which they were once again, late for.

"Nice of you to join us, boys," Neville said with a shake of his head, "Thirty points from Gryffindor and you'll serve a detention with me tonight. Now, as I was saying my children-"

"See-Pee-Uhs!" Hannah Longbottom shouted running over to where Scorpius was, putting her arms up, "Up!"

Scorpius laughed and picked the little girl up, "Shh, daddies talking." The little girl nodded and looked over at her father.

"-are here because my wife has become ill. So for the next little while, we're going to be working on some relative easy things-" Neville said getting cut off by the student's cheers. "-Yes, yes I understand the excitement. So if everyone would pair up in groups of four and I'll give you the assignment we'll be working on for the next week."

The class was quiet while Neville passed out the papers. Albus who was looking around the greenhouse noticed that the only kids that where there were the twin girls and Alice. The others, Albus assumed, were in preschool. He noticed Hannah cuddled into Scorpius while he was reading the assignment, but all he could think about was his Aunt Luna. He despairingly wanted to talk to Alice or Neville, but Alice was paired up with a group a few feet away.

"Al?" Scorpius asked moving his hand in front of his face, "Are you listening?"

"Sorry," Albus said looking at his best mate with his little cousin in his arms. "Just thinking about Aunt Luna."

"Mummy at Moo-go's tuz she icky. Daddy sayed it bad Dree-goos ox." Hannah said with a sad look.

"Dragon pox?" Scorpius questioned and the young girl nodded quickly putting a smile on her face as she noticed her father bringing around red flower pots.

Albus studied his baby cousin wondering to himself how babies could have something bad happen in their life and still be the same cheerful child. _They have a great imagination,_ he reminded himself making a mental note to try to use his imagination more.

*****HS*****

"Hey Al," Albus' cousin Victorie said, coming over to where Albus and Scorpius were sitting to in the Common Room.

"Hey Vic," Albus said looking up from his Charms essay, "what's up?"

"I'm organizing a Weasley family and friends sleepover in the room of requirement," Victorie said with a smile, "Teddy came up with it when I first started Hogwarts, naturally it was held in one of our dorm rooms but when Dom and Rox got into Slytherin we had to move it, naturally."

Albus nodded. "Can Scor come?"

Victorie nodded. "Rose won't like it, but it is the Weasley annual friends and family sleepover. He'll have to be screeched in to become an honorary Weasley, though."

"Sounds painful," Scorpius said from the chair across from Albus. "Are you all going to get drunk again?"

Victorie laughed. "Sorry about that Little Snake. Thanks for putting all my baby cousins and my baby brother to bed though."

"Don't mention it," Scorpius shrugged, "so when is this sleepover and who's going to be there?"

*****HS*****

It was Saturday night and all of the Weasley family and friends were gathered into the Room of Requirement for their sleepover.

"We should screech Scorpius and Megan in to get it over with," Arthur suggested as everyone started making a spot for them all to lie.

"I agree," Fred said with a nod, his best friend Elijah Wood nodding next to him. Of all of the Weasley kids, Fred, like his namesake suggested, was a true prankster and once he started Hogwarts, and met Elijah the pair were in detention every other day. James being added onto the pair once he got to Hogwarts the year after.

"Okay," Victorie agreed rummaging through her bag for the necessary items. When Scorpius saw what Victorie took out he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Victorie smirked and passed both first years a sweater each and put a rubber duck in her hand. "Now, what is the function of a rubber duck?"

"It's a Muggle bath toy," Megan replied, clearly confused. Everyone burst out laughing at the confused expressions on Megan and Scorpius' faces.

"Grandpa is obsessed with them and the sweater is something grandma makes every year," Victorie said with a grin, "Welcome to the family."

*****HS*****

"I can't believe it," Dominique said with a frown. She was lying down next to Roxanne in a sleeping bag looking at Albus and James as they told there cousins and friends about the divorce. "Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry always seemed so happy."

"They were," James said with a frown, "But things change. Mum said some pretty bad things. I just feel bad for Lily, she's only nine years old."

"You're a good older brother, James," Roxanne said with a smile.

James shrugged. "You should've seen her Roxy, she pretends to be strong, and she wants you to think she's okay with it, but she's torn."

"I can't say I'm sad," Albus said truthfully from the sleeping bag in between Scorpius and James. "I'm not a big fan of mum right now."

"That'll change," Scorpius said looking at his friend, "your mother could be the worse person in the world and you'll still love her."

Albus just looked at his friend for a minute soaking it all in. He was so angry with his mother for the way she acted over Christmas Holiday's that he forgot about Scorpius' situation at home. Albus gave Scorpius a one armed hug and both boys were quiet while the rest of the over larged group conversed about classes and how they had way too much homework.

*****HS*****

"Guys," Dominique said taking a deep breath, "Roxy and I have something to tell you."

Roxanne held Dominique's hand tightly as the other girl tensed at everyone's stares. "We're... Well.., Dating."

"That much is obvious," Khloe, Dominique and Roxanne's best friend and fellow Slytherin replied with a smile, "Is that all?"

The rest of the group, however, weren't so knowing. "What?" Victorie asked, shocked, "She's your cousin, Domi! And don't even get me started on the fact that she's a girl! You're not gay!"

Dominique looked at her sister with tears in her eyes. "Yes I am, Torie."

"Who cares?" Albus asked with a confused expression on his face, all of his older cousins looking at him in shock. "She's still the same Domi, and she's still the same Roxy. Nothing changed about them."

"Exactly," Khloe said with a smile giving both her best friends a hug.

"Whoever isn't okay with this can get out," Harry said with a nod, "Al's right. They're still our cousins."

"Besides," Scorpius added, "Pureblood families interbreed all the time. It don't affect you, so who cares?"

Dominique and Roxanne both had big smiles on their face and by the end of the night, it didn't even matter that Victorie left.

*****HS*****

The Easter holidays were fact approaching the students of Hogwarts relevantly fast. Albus, however was nothing but pleased.

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay with me over Easter?" Albus asked Scorpius for what seemed to be the millionth time.

Scorpius sighed. "I'm sure, Al. I have to go home."

Albus went to say something but Scorpius continued, "My father is going to be home, okay? She won't do anything when he's home."

Albus nodded and both boys went back to doing their potions essay. Albus, however, found it almost impossible to concentrate, he had a weird feeling in his gut about Easter and he couldn't shake it. However, he couldn't force his best friend to go home with him; He'd just have to trust him.


	22. Easter Troubles

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Easter Troubles**

* * *

><p>Easter at Malfoy Manor was nothing special; Draco would buy the kids chocolate and toys while Astoria would cook a meal that the kids would have to force themselves, full of chocolate, to eat. This year, however Draco was working until Easter Monday, which meant Astoria Malfoy was left home alone with her three children. It was that reason that Scorpius Malfoy was doubled over in pain on the cellar floor.<p>

"Here," Bella said with a grim expression casting a cooling charm over her brother. "Do you think anything's broken?"

"I don't know," Scorpius answered looking up at his big sister who was sitting crossed legged on the ground beside him. "Everything hurts Bella."

"I know," Bella said quietly, "Do blood replenishing potions work on you?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said with a groan, rolling over on his back, with his eyes barely opened.

"Good, you have to stay awake a little longer," she said putting the potion to his lips and her hands on his stomach, repairing any of his broken bones. While Scorpius was talented with shield charms, his older sister was talented with repairing charms.

Bella, having her flaws as everyone else isolated herself from her siblings and was harsh to them whenever possible. However, after a beating she always helped her little brother just like he helped her.

As Scorpius fell into a slumber, Bella wrapped him up and snuck out of the cellar not noticing the baby blue eyes in the shadows watching tearfully.

*****HS*****

When James and Albus got off the Hogwarts express, they didn't know what to expect now that their parents were split up. However, they soon found out that everything was perfectly normal, minus their mother being around.

Albus noticed that Lily was much happier now then she had been when she was in Hogwarts weeks before and was happy that his little sister didn't have to listen to their parents bickering anymore. He was surprised, however to learn that Lily hadn't gone to see their mother yet.

"I don't want to go, Al. Is that bad?" she asked, her emerald green eyes staring into his own.

"But why, Lil?" Albus asked, tilting his head to the side, trying to read his baby sisters body language.

"I blame her," Lily admitted, putting her head down shamefully, "She and daddy would fight all the time. She wouldn't accept Scorpius for who he was and she said that Teddy is not her son."

"She what?!" Albus asked, not believing his little sister. Lily just nodded and sighed. "Yeah."

Albus shook his head and wrapped his arms around his sister. Both of them were supposed to be getting ready to go see their mother as James had went the night before but both of them wanted to wait until the morning.

"I know you're mad at mum, Lils but she's still our mum. It's okay not to want to go, but I think you'd regret it if you didn't."

Lily sniffed. "When did you get so smart, Al?" She asked with a grin causing her brother to slap her on the arm.

"I was always smart, you just never listened."

*****HS*****

"Hey mum?" James asked that night at dinner, the trio arrived at their mothers just before and were now sitting in her cozy dining room eating fried chicken.

"Yes, James?"

"Would it be okay if I moved in with you?" James asked earning surprised glances from his siblings. Why did James want to live with mum? Lily thought giving Albus a questioning look. Albus just shrugged her shoulders, he didn't know why either.

"It would be more than okay," Ginny said with a grin. Maybe he just wants to make mum happy, Lily thought. That would make since, she did seem pretty sad.

"You'll still visit at dads, right?" Lily asked her brother, she only got to see her brothers on holidays and in the summer, she wasn't about to not see James at all, even if it did mean she had to go to her mother's more often.

"Of course Lils," James said with a smile, and the rest of the meal went by uneventful.

*****HS*****

It was late that night and Lily couldn't sleep so she did the only logical thing she could think of, she went up on the roof. She was glad that the bedroom her mother picked out for her had a window that she could easily climb out of. Even though she was sure if her mother knew about her climbing on roofs she would have been forced to switch with Albus.

Lily lay on the roof looking up at the stars thoughtfully. Truth be told, she really liked her mother's new house. It had four bedrooms, one of which was her mothers, so she assumed that Teddy wasn't welcome in the house.

Lily really couldn't understand why her mother was mad at Teddy. How could she just start to ignore her son? Lily was sure that her father told her that it was actually Victorie who brought the alcohol to the party, as she did year after year, but for some reason that wasn't good enough for her mother. She sighed and continued looking at the stars.

"What are you doing up here?" she heard her brother ask; she turned her head so she could look at James and sighed.

"I'm thinking."

"Why can't you do that somewhere you can't fall and die?" James asked in his 'worried big brother tone'.

"Why couldn't you tell us you were dating Bella Malfoy? Or warn us that you were going to move in with mum?" Lily retorted without missing a beat that caused her brother to go silent.

"Mum is so sad, Lily. I know your mad at her, but I don't have a reason to be." James admitted, "and Bella isn't as bad as everyone thinks, okay? Plus, how did you even find out about that? You're not even in Hogwarts!"

"That isn't important," Lily replied coolly, "so unless you want mum to find out, you'll leave me alone and go back to bed."

James didn't say another word, which made Lily smirk. _I knew that would get him to go away_, she thought proudly.

*****HS*****

"Are we having Easter this year or are Grandma and Grandpa?" Albus asked at the supper table on Good Friday.

"We're having it here, there's more room for all of us," Harry replied. "I asked your mother to come but she refused."

"Bitch," Teddy mumbled under his breath, hoping his father wouldn't hear him.

"Teddy!" Harry scolded his oldest son.

"He's right," Lily spoke up unexpectedly; everyone looked at her with shocked expressions. "What? She said that he wasn't her son, and she isn't coming to see us on Easter. If that isn't bitchy I don't know what is."

"How do you even know what that word means?" Teddy asked, shaking his head at his little sister causing everyone to laugh.

*****HS*****

"Why isn't Scorpius here?" Molly asked her favorite older cousin as they played exploding Snap in his room.

"He went home with his family," Albus said trying to sound reassuring. The truth was Albus hadn't stopped worrying about his best friend since he got off the train and lost sight of him.

"Oh," Molly said, and then she smirked. "Where is everyone now?"

Albus laughed at his little cousin. "They're running around the neighborhood."

Everyone that was drinking on New Year's had to go through what Albus' dad liked to call boot camp. Albus and Molly watched them from Albus' window. Fred, Dominique, and Teddy were the only ones who looked like they weren't dying.

"I think they're exhausted," Molly said, giggling, "that'll teach them to scare us shitless."

"Language, Mols," Albus said playfully pushing his cousins shoulder. Molly laughed and sat back down on Albus' bed and the two of the continued playing exploding snap.

*****HS*****

_I should be used to this by now._ Naomi wrote in her diary. _I've been watching them protect me for three years and they have no idea. I hate her._

The tears came causing the young girl to bury her face in her pillow, muffling her sobs. She wished she could tell someone about what was happening, but she remembered when Scor did two years ago. She still remembered it, and all the other times her mother used spells, in grave detail. The way her brother twitched and screamed, Bella sitting by knowing there was nothing she could do to help Scorpius. Naomi wasn't sure what she should do. Or if she could do anything at all.

_I guess I'll write Lily_ she thought, ever since Christmas the two girls had been secretly sending each other letters with code names so Naomi's mother wouldn't find out.

Naomi sighed, she wish she could tell Lily about her mother. But she knew it wouldn't make things any better. She knew it would only end in hurt.

*****HS*****

"Albus! Molly! Dinners ready!" Audrey, Molly's mum called up the stairs. Both kids went down and sat to the extended table with all their cousins, aunts, and uncles. The table was quiet at first, because everyone was eating.

"Can you pass the potatoes, Tor?" Dominique asked quietly, looking at her big sister.

Victorie, who had been anything but nice to her sister since she came out, just ignored her, an act that didn't go unnoticed by her mother.

"Victoire! Quel est le sens de tout cela?" Fleur asked looking at her oldest child with a frown. _(What is the meaning of this?)_

Victorie just shrugged. "Why don't you ask _them_?"

"Dominique?"

Dominique looked at Roxanne with fear clear in her eyes; _what do you want me to tell them? _Roxanne asked with her eyes. Domi shrugged her shoulders and cleared her throat.

"Mum, dad, everyone," she started, stopping to take a deep breath, "I'm a lesbian."

"What?" Fleur asked, outraged.

"Yeah," Dominique whispered, she looked at her sister who just shook her head and went away from the table.

The table went silent and once again, Lily was the one to break it by clapping her hands, one after one all of their cousins started clapping. Of course, they knew the truth of why Victorie was so mad at her sister, but neither of them were going to say anything. At the end even, Bill, Dominique's father had a knowing smile on his face as he clapped along with most of the adults.

"Love is love," Bill said with a smile, "it isn't about what you look like or about your gender, it just is."

"Thanks daddy," Dominique said with a smile. _Well, at least half of it was done. _

*****HS*****

"Scorpius," Bella whispered lightly shaking her younger brother. Scorpius groaned while he slowly opened his eyes and looked at his older sister. "Dads home."

Scorpius let out a sigh of relief and sat up, trying not to wince at the pain in his body. Bella passed him a potion, which he downed and the two of them made their way up stairs.

Draco had an assortment of chocolate and prices set out on the dining room table for his three kids. Naomi's eyes lit up as she seen all the different assortments and not long after all three children were digging into the candy.

Scorpius ate slowly because despite his sister giving him a pain potion he was still sore. He sighed and went to his room directly after eating and got a hot shower. Looking in the mirror at himself, he noticed all the bruises throughout his whole body and lastly, he noticed his arm that he hurt himself. _She's not the only one who can hurt me_ was the last thing he thought before slicing through his flesh with a spell.

*****HS*****

The rest of the Easter holidays went by fast and before anyone knew it, it was time to go back to Hogwarts. As soon as Albus saw Scorpius on the Hogwarts Express he knew something bad had happened, but he knew better then to push his friend into telling him what. Therefore, both boys sat in a compartment with the Patil twins and talked as if everything was normal. However, every time Scorpius winced, Albus was watching.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that Scorpius had no other choice than to tell him what was going on.

The blonde-headed Gryffindor was in the corridor clutching his best friend with tears streaming down his face. The events of the hour before playing fresh in his mind, causing him to become even more distraught.

_"Excuse me, Professor Snape, but both Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter are needed in the Headmistresses office," Professor Longbottom said, coming into the Potions classroom._

_"Very well," Professor Snape commented and both boys made their way to the Headmistresses office. Surprisingly, Bella was already there, with James of all people, and standing next to Headmistress McGonagall was none other than Albus' dad._

_"What's going on?" Albus demanded, looking at his brother and Bella. Both third years just shrugged._

_"Scorpius, Bellatrix," Harry began sadly, looking at both children, "I'm sorry to have to tell you this but your father... He was killed last night."_

"I can't go live with her," Scorpius sobbed into Albus' shoulder, "Al, I just can't! She'll kill me! She's going to kill me."

"Hush," Albus said softly, "She's not going to do anything because you're coming to live with me."


	23. The Sequel

The sequel to this story is now out! It's titled Hidden Scars II: New Beginnings. I hope you guys enjoyed the story and that you will go ahead and read the sequel!

Peace out!

~Uni


End file.
